We Sleep Forever
by ShinigamiMailJeevas
Summary: Matt hates the word useless, its too close to worthless, so he sets out to prove Mello wrong only to come in 1st. Years later Mello seeks the help of a famed underground detective to solve a string of murders with disturbing clues pointing to Wammys. Yaoi
1. Prologue: Worthless

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Death Note, wish I did, But I don't.

**Full Summary:** After Mello calls Matt 'A Useless Dog' during a fight; Matt sets out to prove him wrong to wind up 1st at Wammys. Years later Mello seeks the help of an esteemed underground hacker and detective known only by the letter "J" to solve a string of grisly murders that have disturbing ties to Winchester and may spell destruction for Wammys. Angst, Sexual Situations, Slight Torture, MM, Yaoi.

**EDITED 2/1/10 : **So, I just finished writing the final story in this series (The Silent Place) and decided that I would rework/rewrite the first three fics just a bit to get rid of some of the issues I noticed. There is new content in places, but I generally just fixed things.

A real quickie, this is in general pov. But it does focus mainly on Matt and Mello.

**Suggested Listening**: 'This Love This Hate' **by **Hollywood Undead**;** Kissing You Goodbye **by** The Used (added 2/1/10)

**Prologue:** _Worthless _

Matt stormed into the room and slammed the door, something quite uncharacteristic of him. "I'll show you Mello! I'm not useless!" the red haired gamer bit his lip in frustration. The only thing he could really do to show his blonde haired best friend that he wasn't useless was to tie him in the upcoming language project.

It was his _worst_ subject, as far as anyone knew, so it would be a feat for him to tie Mello.

Matt wasn't stupid, far from it in a house of genii, but he shouldn't have been third either. His mind was on a level above that of Mello or even Near, meaning that if he wanted to he would be first; not _could _but would. But that was not what he wanted. He wanted to live in Mello's shadow, to be his backup, to be his friend, his support.

However Matt _knew_ that if he ever surpassed Mello, in any way, the blonde haired boy would never speak to him again in friendly terms; he would only see him as a rival. So from the day he decided he wanted the blonde's friendship he had dimmed his skills so that the only thing that kept him third were his technical skills.

Mello meant so much to him that he would do anything for him, _anything_. But that didn't mean he liked being called useless which was just as bad as_ worthless_, and Matt had heard that _too_ many times in his short life already.

With determination in his eyes Matt began to create a project that would tie Mello's own exactly. It wouldn't be difficult since he already knew how Mello's mind worked; he was brilliant but let his emotions ruin any chance of him being greater than second, and with his recent defeat to Near his project would suffer, so with this in mind Matt just had to match it. The project was due the next day and he hadn't even planned on doing something like this until earlier....

_Mello snatched the gameboy from the redheads grasp with a furious scowl. "Are you even listening to me?" the irate chocoholic growled. _

"_Yes. Can I have my game back?" the blond snarled and threw it at Matt. _

"_That's all you ever pay attention to! No wonder you're only third. You are nothing but a useless dog; you could never be anything but third with a brain like yours! I don't know why I bother with you..." Mello threw his hands up in the air and stalked off down the hallway leaving Matt by himself._

...Matt didn't even hear Mello enter the room; he was working furiously trying to make sure he didn't go over what he predicted Mello's score to be. Mello looked thoughtfully at his friend but decided to leave him alone in favor of finishing his own project.

Matt ended up falling asleep with little over three pages left to write.

-

The morning sun glared painfully into his closed eyes making him wonder where exactly his goggles had gone to. Yawning, and stretching his arms skyward to relieve some tension, he looked wearily at the clock.

"Shit!" it was almost time for class and the project wasn't finished yet. If he didn't hurry he wouldn't even end up in third place. Scribbling down his thoughts for the last three pages or so, he added it to the five page stack and shoved it under the cover of his notebook before bolting out of his and Mello's shared room.

He had just made it to class on time to hand in the project that was to be graded. It was the last project of the week and the rankings would be posted the next day, Saturday. Sitting down next to Mello, Matt tried not to grin. Instead he pulled out his gameboy and paid little attention to the workings of the class.

"Matt, pay attention!" Mello punched him lightly in the arm for the third time, making him look up from the fifth level.

"You know I never fail anything. The teacher is just too boring..."

Mello rolled his eyes and secretly snapped off a piece of chocolate while the teacher wasn't looking. At least Mello was acting normal, Matt thought to himself. It was like he hadn't said any of those things the day before.

But he had, and Matt would never forget anything Mello told him. Sinking further into the chair he pressed the buttons of the game harder than needed. At least when everything was said and done Mello might treat him better than a dog, or so he silently hoped.

The day's classes passed quickly as well as all the rest of the time until it was late, later than Matt would usually stay up. But he just couldn't seem to sleep no matter what he did; something was nagging at his mind and wouldn't leave him alone.

It had been like that whenever he allowed himself to get distracted from his game, like an ominous little rain cloud. Had he forgotten something? It wasn't Mello's birthday, and there wasn't a test as the next day was a weekend, so what was it?

Matt sighed heavily and groaned softly into his pillow. It was going to drive him crazy until he figured it out, but right now he _needed_ sleep. Especially since Mello liked to get up early and be the first person to look at the new rankings. With that horrible thought in mind, Matt hated early mornings, he tried to force himself to sleep.

He succeeded... nearly three hours later.

-

"Matt get your lazy butt up now!" Matt was awoken by Mello pushing him from the bed and onto the floor.

"Umph!" he had managed to land on his stomach and it was not the most pleasant of feelings.

"Matt hurry up! The new standings are probably already posted!" Mello was practically jumping from foot to foot as he waved around a chocolate bar.

"Just go, I'll meet you there in a minute..." Matt mumbled softly from his seated position. The blonde rolled his blue eyes and rushed from the room. Running on nearly two hours sleep left Matt feeling sluggish and yet he still managed to get dressed in under two minutes.

Heaving a sigh he took out his gameboy, the one Mello had gotten him years ago for Christmas, and headed out into the hallway to find Mello. The rankings would be posted just outside of the dining hall on a long white sheet of paper that spanned half the length of the wall vertically.

There was already a crowd of students and there were loud whispers and shocked looking faces. Curious, Matt wondered if Mello had gotten the top position. Oh how _wrong_ he was.

He spotted Mello standing in front of the crowd with wide eyes; Near was beside him with a calculating expression.

"Hey Mello." Mello's back tensed and Matt immediately took that as a warning sign. Blue eyes turned to him, filled with anger and... hate? Mello brushed passed him without even a second glance. With a feeling of dread Matt pushed his way to the front.

"Congratulations Matt." Near told him while playing with his hair. Confused, Matt looked at the rankings. His gameboy fell to the floor with a _thump_.

"Oh no..." he whispered.

There, at the top of the list, was _his _name.

That wasn't supposed to happen! The project should have only added a few extra points, not nearly enough to beat Mello, and certainly not Near. Something had gone terribly awry. His eyes widened behind orange tinted goggles. He must have made a mistake in his rush to finish the paper! That was the only explanation.

Numbly retrieving the fallen handheld he nodded to Near and quietly left all the envious and surprised faces.

Swallowing thickly he quickly backtracked to his and Mello's room. The room looked like a tornado had hit it, books and papers were strewn across every available surface and furniture was upturned. Matt's eyes finally rested on Mello whose fist had just left a large crack in the wall.

"Mello?" the blonde turned to him, his eyes furious.

"Was this all just a game to you?! Did you secretly laugh every time I talked about beating Near when you were better than both of us? Did it make you feel superior to have deceived all of us?!" his body shook with every word that came from his mouth.

"No, none of that is true!" Matt yelled. "You are my best friend, I would never hurt you purposely."

"You already did. Number one, number fucking one! You know how long I've wanted to beat Near and yet all this time you were the one smarter than all of us, and you dare to call yourself my friend? How could you do that?!" tears formed in the corner of Mello's eyes, born out of frustration and the immense feeling of betrayal.

"Mello, I didn't want to be first, I never did. I just wanted to be your-" Mello's fist connected with Matt's cheek sending the redhead sprawling to the floor.

"Save it, I hate you! I can't deal with you anymore, in fact I'm asking Roger to move me to another room. I don't even care if it's with Near!" Mello shouted furiously, the tears finally falling. Grabbing a small amount of chocolate off his nightstand he stormed out of the room and left Matt on the floor.

Mello was... transferring rooms?

He hated him?

Mello _hated _him?

Matt's mouth opened and closed a few times as he took in deep shuddering breaths. His goggles fogged up and water filled his vision; ripping the goggles off his head he clutched them almost desperately in his hand.

"Oh god..." he had shown Mello he wasn't useless alright. He had fucking shown him that he was smarter than him! It had cost him his friendship, the one thing Matt valued most in his life. Mello was his one and _only _friend, he was the one person who would always talk to him even if he was angry. His chest hurt so much he almost thought he was having a heart attack. Or maybe it was truer that his heart was breaking in half and the pieces crumbling.

Nothing would be the same anymore. Mello would never again smile at him or offer to share his chocolate even though he knew Matt didn't like it; Mello would never stay up late and watch a movie with him even though there was a test the next day or complain to him about Near...

Mello would only stare at him with those cold eyes, those hurtful eyes. Matt wouldn't be able to stand it, to have his best friend hate him so much that he would rather room with his rival than be around him.

Matt struggled into a standing position and staggered over to his side of the room. Amidst all the chaos his nightstand had been left relatively untouched. Reaching behind it and to the side he pulled out a small black pouch. It held all the money he had been given and or collected over the years, starting even prior to Wammys.

Shutting his eyes tightly and willing the tears away he shoved the money into his jacket pocket. He knew there was no way to fix things now that Mello was decided; no amount of talking or shouting would change his mind. Matt wouldn't kill himself, but he couldn't stay either. He couldn't come back to an empty room everyday and know it was his fault.

And now that he had reached first, he knew the teachers and even L would suspect him of hiding his skills if he didn't stay first. His only option was to leave the only place he had ever called home. To leave Mello... his shoulders were shaking in effort to control his emotions.

He could hear the voices of the other children getting louder and louder; their excited voices grated on his ears. It was time to leave before anyone discovered him. Looking at the room Matt turned away; he would take nothing else with him, it would only slow him down.

"I'll leave so that you can be happy. I'm sorry Mello..." Matt whispered and disappeared into the hallways, going unnoticed like he always did.

-

Mello was mad, no he was _furious_.

Roger had just told him that even if he thought that Mello could honestly room with Near without killing him, he wouldn't allow him to change rooms since he saw no reason for it. Mello had shouted at him and slammed the door behind him; he felt nauseous.

His supposed best friend had been fooling him all these years and he had never noticed! His hands clenched into fists again but he resisted the urge to hit something.

He headed to the back doors and threw them open, intent on climbing one of the tall oak trees. His head was too messed up at the moment to deal with anyone else and he would be left in peace if he was up there. It was always a sign to leave him alone if he sought out a high place. He didn't even remember getting to the tree, never mind climbing halfway up.

Mello sat there and snapped chocolate until the sun was going down. He felt calmer but no less betrayed. He didn't know where he was going to sleep that night but it sure as hell wasn't going to be in that room.

He needed time, lots of time, away from Matt or he was going to hurt him. Pulling at his hair with a growl Mello made his way inside and was on his way to the common room when Roger stopped him. "Mello, have you seen Matt?"

"No." he snarled. "After today I hope I never see him again!" he ignored the older man and took off down the hallway in an angry daze, all his time spent calming down was thrown out the window just like that.

Deciding that being around anyone anytime soon was a very _bad _idea; Mello instead went to the library and found a corner in the very back of the room to settle down in.

Although he was hungry he would not be able to deal with all of the stares and whispers at the moment. With the quiet and relaxing atmosphere of the library he eventually fell asleep curled against a bookshelf.

-

Blue eyes fluttered open and a low groan echoed throughout the silent room. Sleeping against a bookshelf was not a good idea unless one liked getting stiff necks... backs... bodies. Wincing as he stood, Mello stretched carefully to ease the tension in his joints.

"Stupid library..." he glared at the books as though expecting them to apologize for not being as soft as his bed. At the thought of his bed he was reminded of the fact that he needed to change, and in order to do that he needed to go back to the room.

And Matt.

Great.

With a tired sigh, much too tired to be aggravated yet, he left the library. On the way there he was stopped by Roger and a few relieved looking teachers.

"Mello, where have you been? You weren't in your room." Mello narrowed his eyes.

"I was in the library. And I told you I refuse to room with _him_ anymore." the teachers turned to look at each other, worry in their eyes.

"So you don't know where Matt is?" Mello shook his head, confused. "Keep asking, maybe someone has seen him." Roger told the others. They dismissed him now that he had been found in perfect health, all aches aside. Not able to gain Roger's attention before he left again, Mello wasn't able to find out anything.

With a now irritated sigh he sought out Linda, the holder of all things gossip. She was annoying but she would know what was going on. Spotting her amidst a small group of other girls he roughly dragged her a few feet away.

"Hey, Mello that hurt!" the blonde rolled his eyes at her whinny yell.

"Why is everyone looking for Matt?" the name rolled off his tongue distastefully. Linda's brown eyes widened.

"You mean you don't' know?" she gasped. "He hasn't been seen since yesterday morning. And everyone is worried. You haven't seen him have you?" Linda's worried eyes questioned him.

Feeling a small twinge in his chest Mello shook his head. No one had seen Matt since their fight.

Reaching their room he found it in exactly the same state as it had been left in, a giant mess. Going over to Matt's nightstand Mello reached behind it, and once he found the pouch he would go find Matt and beat the crap put of him for causing problems.

But he didn't find it.

"He wouldn't!" Mello forced the nightstand away from the wall and let it wobble before crashing to the ground. The sound had alerted a few nearby people who went to investigate.

"What happened?" someone questioned.

Mello stared at the empty spot where the pouch should have been. Matt had said that the only reason it would ever be removed was if he was adding to it, or... he left. Though he had stated that he would leave when his best friend did.

"Mello?"

Mello knew he should be happy about this, but all he could feel was pain. "Matt's gone... he left Wammys." and Mello knew without a doubt that it was because of him.

The person gasped and ran from the room leaving Mello to stare blankly at the empty space before him.

**-End **_**Worthless**_**-**

**AN:** I'm sure people have already notices the small changes I placed in here as I edited it.... which includes the summary as well as me getting rid of the old AN's. *shrug*

You love me right?

You want to review right?

Plez?


	2. Chapter 1: Continuous

**AN:** Yes I know this chapter is short, however there is a reason for it. I will not tell you anything else other than that the main person in the beginning is at least 18. ;)

**Suggested Listening:** Stripper **by** Lords of Acid**;** Animals **by** Nickelback

**Chapter One:**_ Continuous_

Brown hair shifted across a pair of hazel eyes before a pale hand batted it away listlessly.

The soft white glow of a laptop screen tinted the boys already pale features into something ghost like. Although the eyes were quickly scanning the information floating across the screen, they were shiny with a glazed sheen making them appear unfocused.

The rapid taps of fingers striking the keyboard filled the otherwise silence of the room; that was not to say that the apartment itself was otherwise empty.

Far from it.

Loud rock and techno type music blared furiously from just behind the closed door. It was hard t say exactly how many people were in the apartment at that time, as the amount changed by the hour and by the amount of light in the sky.

Inside the dark closed off room however, shot glasses along with an unidentifiable white powered substance covered all available counter space; things such as books, computer cords, stacks of paper and clothes littered the floor and unmade, hardly used, bed.

Sighing softly the hazel eyed boy copied the document he had just typed out and pasted it to an email before sending it to the lead detectives on the Southern Pier murder case.

"Next." the emotionless voice stated. Scanning through the case files he quickly found all the clues needed to connect the robbery turned murder to a man in his late fifties. "They actually send me all the clues, I rarely have to do any work. This is... unbelievable." just as he hit send on another email a pair of hands slid across his chest from behind him.

The hands fisted in the material of his shirt and the boy was roughly pulled from the chair and flung to the cluttered floor. He landed on something sharp and gasped in pain.

Groaning softly, a pair of lips were crushed against his own; teeth gnashing together in an almost feral manor.

Hands pried the clothing from his lithe body until he was laid bare before the older man. Leaning foreword to kiss the other he was backhanded across the face; hissing he spit blood from his mouth.

"You know you like it." he said nothing even as he was forced onto his stomach, large hands gripping his slim hips in a vice like way. The man shoved himself into the boy's unprepared entrance and moaned as he shouted in pain.

The boy quickly got used to the harsh thrusts and fast pace and was soon moving along with the one dominating him. He didn't need to admit to liking it, his body said it all.

"You're such a good little bitch." the man removed his left hand from the boy's hip and began to roughly slide it along the boy's erection. "Ahh!" hazel eyes stared blurrily into the darkness of the room as he was quickly brought to climax. A few moments later the man above him groaned, jerked into him a few more times before coming hard, his semen filling his insides and dripping down his thighs.

Panting harshly the boy moved himself away from the man and sat wearily on the floor. "Do you always have to do this while I'm working? You know all I want to do is sleep after that." the man beside him chuckled.

"It's really the only way to get you to sleep, a fucking great way too." the hazel eyed boy rolled his eyes and stood up.

"You're such an ass." hearty laughter filled the room as the boy flopped gracelessly onto the bed, carefully avoiding the things piled on there.

"And you are a nice piece of ass." the boy shook his head and flipped the man off before covering himself with a blanket and rolling towards the wall.

"Just set the laptop on standby for me, will you?" without waiting for a response the boy closed his eyes and drifted off.

**-End **_**Continuous**_**-**

**AN 2010:** Wow..... I so don't remember writing this. Lol. It was interesting to edit it again though. Again I added a few small things. *shrugs*

Review???


	3. Chapter 2 : Transition

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Death Note.....

**AN:** ok as the title of the chapter states this is a transition chapter. Meaning that I'm using this to set the stage for the rest of the fic. It is meant to be short. This will be the end of generalized pov, and it will go into first person in chapter 3 (or 2 if you don't count the prologue)

And don't worry, this chapter also ends the 'short' chapters. **Everything **from here on out will be 3,000+ words. :)

**Suggested Listening**: Rockstar **by **Nickelback

**Chapter Two: **_Transition _

The leather clad blonde scowled as he took the Styrofoam cup from the woman's hand; her fingers ever so slightly brushing against his. She smiled and batted her eyelashes making his frown deepen. "How much for the _coffee_?" he made sure to emphasize the word coffee so she might take the hint that he wasn't interested; she didn't and it irritated him.

"$2.35. But for you its on the house." she winked but pouted when he placed the money on the counter before stalking out of the coffeehouse.

"You would think they wouldn't want to speak with a guy who has a scar on his face, instead they are all over me. What the hell is wrong with these people?" he muttered darkly as he took a sip of the dark brew.

"Place makes good coffee though." with a sigh he continued on down the crowded street before stopping before a black motorcycle and a bench.

Seating himself on the bench he hunched himself over slightly and pulled the hood of his jacket to cover most of his face. Cold biting wind crept harshly through the layers of leather like he wasn't wearing a single piece of clothing on that cloudy October day. It had been colder than usual the entire month signaling an early winter and an probably an even earlier snowfall.

Another breath of air escaped his parted lips and formed into a white cloud of heat that fell just before him.

"Why the hell does this guy have to live in New York? He couldn't have picked a warmer place?" he couldn't remember Winchester ever being so cold. At that thought his scowl returned full force.

The new case he was working on held far too many close ties with Wammys than he could ever have liked. And with L working on multiple high profile cases, after his amazing defeat of Kira years back, Mello was left with this mess. He doubted that L even knew of this considering it wasn't a notable case at all, mostly just killings of CEO's, but it was their connections that Mello had found worrying.

It was something he had stumbled upon accidently, as he hadn't been looking for a case at the moment, the CEO's all had dealings with Wammys at one time or another. One had sold medical supplies to Wammys for their infirmary; another had sent school supplies, and so on.

Alongside the victims bodies letters were left, one letter per body. So far it added up to a Y, M, M, and W. Someone out there knew about Wammys House and was flaunting it. It was too much of a coincidence for it to merely be his paranoia.

With this thought Mello was brought back to the other thing he was working on. He was looking for an underground hacker and detective who had never lost a case.

Mello had never once accepted help from L or Wammys since he left it at fourteen. He always made his own way and had eventually become a private detective, even getting to the point where he could afford to be a little picky with his cases as well as request ones that he found interesting.

However that didn't mean he worked completely within the spectrum of the law. He had an assortment of contacts who were less than law abiding citizens, as well as having dealt with the mafia for a short time. And that was why he was looking for the mysterious hacker. Though it was a bit of a hassle to be back in this city...

Mello knew that he couldn't solve this on his own with the resources he currently possessed, as they were lacking and severely limited. There was another reason however... he was looking for someone. Someone who either didn't want to be found or was dead. He seriously hoped it wasn't the latter, because he wasn't sure if his heart could take it. Not after...

Mello furiously shook his head. He didn't have time to think about that at the moment, he had a hacker to find, a case to solve and a deal to make with the hacker. With those treacherous thoughts pushed to the back of his mind the blond stood, his finished coffee going into the overflowing trash receptacle beside the bench, before he fished a pair of keys from his pocket.

With a determined glint in his eyes he mounted the motorcycle and started it, pleased with the way a few passing people flinched at the sudden sound, before taking off down the busy streets of New York.

_**-**_**End **_**Transition-**_

**AN: **So..... We now know that Mello is working on a case and that he is looking for two someone's. This is set around seven years _after_ the prologue took place. Hm...... Interesting?

**And Special Thanks to all those who reviewed :** Living in a fantasy, Misha2011, Eon Manic, IndifferenceToSociety, munnins-memory, and Sightlines


	4. Chapter 3: Prideless

**Disclaimer**: Still don't own anything.....

**AN:** This chapter marks the start of first person…… (**2010**: how the hell did I ever write 1st person!??)

**Musical Influences: **Smother Me** by** The Used**; **Cover Up **by** Trapt

**Chapter Three**: _Prideless_

_~Mello~ _

I pulled the sleek black phone from my pocket and flipped open the top. "What?" I shouted over the roar of the engine; I swerved between two cars and ignored the horns that blared after me. The wind ripped through my hair and ruffled the jacket I wore.

"I've found him. He's in a real shitty neighborhood too."

I grinned. Gotcha detective.

"I expect an address sent to my e-mail and you will get your usual pay. Maybe more if it's there when I check it." I snapped the phone shut and turned down an alleyway before shutting the engine off. Pushing my dark sunglasses from my eyes I searched through my phone to get to my e-mail; technology really was useful sometimes.

"He actually sent it." I raised my eyebrows. Jasper, my main contact concerning this matter, was usually a real lazy ass when it came to sending the requested information.

"The idiot must be strapped for cash." rolling my eyes I scanned over the information. "He's only a forty minute drive from this location."

My slight irritation at Jasper faded and a crooked smile tugged at my lips. It was time to visit my mysterious detective. Within minutes I was on the road again and headed for the address I had been sent.

Jasper had better be right about this.

The drive, forty minutes or not, had felt short to me. My mind had touched upon so many subjects that I had hardly been paying attention the entire time. Pulling onto Hanover Street I parked my motorcycle in front of the apartment complex and wondered if it would still be there when I came back out.

Jasper had at least been correct about the neighborhood being absolute shit. This was the kind of place where people went missing and no one cared. Heaving open the old rusted door I stepped into the bottom floor hallway and immediately covered my nose and mouth.

The smell was horrible, something like piss and rotting flesh.

Careful not to touch _anything_, I made my way to the third floor. I had no trouble finding apartment 313 as loud music poured out from behind the closed door. Knocking was going to get me nowhere fast so I grabbed the handle and turned, surprisingly it was open. The door swung inward and smacked against the wall with a dull _thud; _the hinges creaked ominously.

The smell was only moderately better inside, and only because it smelt overwhelmingly of alcohol and smoke. The speakers by the door blared out a mix of rock and techno music so loud you felt the vibrations in your chest. The living room was crawling with people dancing, getting drunk, getting high or doing various forms of each.

So the only person who wasn't doing any of the above naturally drew my attention. The thin frame of a young man, whose back was turned to face me, was sprawled out on the couch; his nearly medium length brown hair was sticking out in all directions and looked like it could use a serious wash.

Snapping my gaze from him I took in the area around me. The floor was covered in clothes, magazines, wrappers and I wasn't surprised to find crushed pills. The tables were cluttered with empty beer bottles and old Chinese takeout cartons as well as a few _interesting _bedroomitems.

A sharp gasp drew my attention to the boy who was being dragged from the couch by his hair. He struggled and was backhanded across the face. He landed hard on the floor and a black haired man descended on him. Rough hands pulled at his shirt and unbuckled his belt; and when he resisted he was smacked upside the head with his own belt.

I watched as he was flipped onto his stomach and was entered without the use of lube; his scream pierced through the noise of the room and yet no one even blinked. I was about to interfere when he moaned 'harder' and seemed to have gotten over the pain.

He must be somewhat of a masochist, I thought to myself.

Half lidded hazel colored eyes looked to me in surprise and he was smacked for not paying attention. He mumbled an apology near immediately.

"Dobrý pes." the other man murmured to him. Scrunching my nose in disgust at the scene happening before me I went in search of someone not having sex or likely to be seeing unicorns.

Entering the kitchen I found a woman with long red hair making pasta. "I'm looking for J." there was no need to hide what I wanted, she would either have the information I needed or she wouldn't.

She instantly turned to me and my eyes widened. She had deep green eyes to go along with her red hair and was wearing a striped shirt and form fitting jeans. It was like a slap in the face for me.

She was a woman but she reminded me so much of Matt that it was a little unnerving. She eyed me while holding the wooden spoon in one hand while the other sat upon her hip. "Why are you looking for J?"

"I want his help solving a case." with a sigh she turned away and stirred the pot.

"If J isn't working on the case already then it's not worth it." I frowned but remained calm. "J will take the case once he sees what I have on it." the redhead turned the stove off and left the pasta to sit.

"Even if that is true, no one here knows who J really is." I narrowed my eyes.

"This is his place and none of you know who it is? I don't buy it." she laughed but shook her head.

"It's true. There is a room in the back with a laptop and case notes and what not, but none of us know who uses it. Most of them claim to see a leprechaun running across the room so I doubt they would even remember if they saw J." she brushed past me and dug into the dishwasher behind me for a clean bowl and serving spoon.

"You are free to check out the laptop, but you'll never get on it without the password. All of us have tried. And even our best hacker Blair hasn't been able to get on." she looked back at me with her green eyes searching. Finally she sighed. "Go to the hallway and it's the room with the door shut." she shooed me out of the kitchen after that and I went in search of the room.

It was easy to find, though the apartment was larger than I had initially thought. The room was just as cluttered as the living room and smelled heavily of sex. Eyeing the chair wearily before sitting on it, I booted up the laptop and watched the main screen come on. It was a picture of a forest in the winter.

I moved the wireless mouse and a small box popped up. _Password._ I tried all of the common passwords as well as tried to bypass the thing entirely. None of it worked, and without even so much as a clue there would be no way I could guess the password. With a sigh I shut down the laptop and went back to the kitchen.

"I told you it was impossible."

I scowled at her but was distracted by a girl stumbling through the doorway and mumbling about the rabid flowers that were chasing her. "I'll just come back later when everyone is sober and not running off drugs."

The redhead snorted at me. "Good luck with that. It's a permanent rave here." her pocket vibrated and lit up making her eyes go wide. "Yeah?" her lips parted in shock and she nearly lost the grip on the phone.

"I understand. So when do you...?" she nodded to whatever was being said and I shook my head. I would have to come back and hope that at least one other person wasn't engaged in something that would make them useless to me.

I had found where J was, but I had yet to even speak to him. I was walking out of the kitchen when a freckled hand grabbed my jacket.

"Wait..." the redhead shouted to me before signaling me to wait a moment. She ended the call and eyed me again.

"I have been chosen to speak with you on J's behalf, to hear you out and decide whether or not the case is worth his time." I raised an eyebrow.

"You were talking to him?" she nodded.

"J has been known to choose those of us who frequent here to help him in one way or another." she shrugged and motioned for me to follow her.

We headed to the room that was next to where I found the laptop. This room was bare except for a large TV and a couch that spanned across two walls. She sat down with her knees tucked under herself and looked up at me. With an inaudible sigh I sat down roughly five feet from her.

"So let's hear about this case." I wondered if I should really be telling her anything about it, however the chances of this person being the killer were less than one percent.

I explained everything I knew about the case, with the exception of certain details about Wammys, including the letters, and watched her press a button on her phone.

"Did you get all of that J?" she said quietly. The room had to have been bugged. "_I did, and I will help you with this case. However I expect to be told more about the deaths, mainly the parts you left out as it could possibly hold clues pertaining to the case." _a deep electronic sounding voice filtered out from the speakers on the redhead's phone.

"I can assure you that the information isn't relevant to the case." so he did notice I was withholding something.

"_I can easily hack the information, which would just take up more time, or you could just give me the information." _I sighed. If I let him hack the information, no matter how good he was, it would be a red flag to whomever was killing the CEO's if it was ever found out.

There was no other option unless I wanted to ask Near for help. So I told him about the letters, if he really was as brilliant as his record suggested than it would lead him to Wammys. Though I doubted that he could find anything on it other than it's an orphanage, I just hadn't wanted to take the chance, now I had no choice.

"_Thank you for the information." _the distorted voice said from the cell phone speaker. Knowing I was being watched I turned to where I thought one of the cameras was.

"So I have your help on this?" I questioned, forcing my face to remain emotionless.

"_Yes. I will work with you on this. It is intriguing to me."_ I smirked. Intriguing huh? That almost sounds like something L might say about a case.

"I'll give you a day to get up to speed and do some research on this. I will continue my own investigation in the mean time." I said while reaching inside my jacket for paper. The small pad already had the pen attached so I was able to quickly write down what I wanted.

"This is my number as well as an e-mail you can use to contact me." I held it out for the woman to take; I still had yet to find out her name. "I will be expecting your call." I said towards the camera.

"_Miranda, aren't you forgetting something?"_ the distorted voice called out softly. I watched silently amused as the redhead, now known as Miranda, scrambled to pull up something from her cell phone.

"You will need this e-mail to send J stuff. And this is my number, if you need to speak with J just call me and I'll pass it on." I put the newly acquired information onto my phone. I stood swiftly and ignoring the urge to go back to the laptop room, where J most likely was, I left the apartment.

Once outside I inhaled deeply; the frigid air filling my lungs with a crisp, cool scent that at the moment was better than liquid chocolate. That building had smelled awful and I wasn't looking foreword to returning to it.

Swinging my leg over the side of my bike I revved the engine and sped off down the street. I hit no less than three red lights on the way to my next turn; it seemed like it was going to be one of those days.

The drive back was relaxing, my mind now able to linger on other things that didn't involve finding J. My thoughts instantly drifted to the hazel eyed man from the apartment, though he could have been anywhere from eighteen to twenty-five.

Although I hadn't come across him in the best of situations, my mind could not forget that image, he seemed familiar to me. As though I should _know_ him. Going through the list of all the people I know, or used to know, I drew up a blank. I had never met him before. So why did it feel like I had?

Letting out a breath I turned the corner sharply and pulled onto a side street. Just because I had found J it didn't mean I could relax, I still had business to take care off.

Parking the motorcycle next to a trashcan I quickly strode up to a large metal door that lead to the kitchen of a restaurant. Banging on the door I waited patiently until it swung open.

"Come on in." a large bouncer type cook stepped sideways to allow me entry before shutting the door behind me. I turned left out of the kitchen and headed down a blue carpeted hallway before stopping in the doorway of a large open room.

"Hey Mike how have you been?" a thick Asian accent greeted me so I turned to face Yumiko, the daughter of the restaurants owner, and gave her a charming smile.

"I'm fine as always. And what about you?" she blushed and giggled softly, honestly why women still found me attractive with my scar I would never know.

"Mike stop trying to seduce my daughter." the voice of Takahashi Hiko said as he walked over to me with a large smile.

"Takahashi-san." I nodded to him with a smile.

"Come now, I told you to stop being so formal with me. Besides I know we have something to discuss right now." he sent a pointed look over at Yumiko who sighed and left the room with a wave. Takahashi sat down on a plush swivel chair in the center of the room, at the head of a large table, as I sat on the tabletop near him.

"All pleasantries aside, I hear that you might have some information for me." the man steepled his hands and stared at me. "First tell me why you need it."

"It's for something I'm working on. Very important." I needn't explain anything more as he already knew I was a detective, one that straddled the line between legal and illegal.

"Nothing extra?" he pried. I shook my head, my blonde hair falling into my face.

"Fine. One of my men came across some very interesting footage after a job." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes I know, video is not something one would expect to pick up during those activities. However, I think you will be pleased with it. Something to do with the murder of Daniel Loges." he had my attention completely at that.

Daniel Loges was the CEO of Loges Pharmaceuticals; was being past tense, he was dead.

"Pleased indeed. What do you want for it?" Takahashi's face turned dark for a moment and I wondered if I would have to use my former _position_ for whatever he wanted.

My thoughts grew grim as he explained what he wanted in exchange for the tapes, I had hoped I could have left all of that by now, but in order to solve this case... it looked like I would have to break my promise to L as well as to myself.

"Done." we shook hands and I felt like I had just signed my own execution papers.

"It will be done before next week." Takahashi nodded with a pleased smile before reaching into his jacket to pull out a gun.

"Oh, this is yours. I heard that you had _lost_ your other one." I took the gun from his hands, looked it over for a moment, and stuffed it into the front of my leather pants.

"You are going to lose those jewels of yours one of these days." I sent him an amused smile, I had never heard it phrased quite like that before.

"Trust me they will be fine." I said and patted the gun.

"Good to hear that. I will take my leave now; I do have a business to run after all. I will have everything sent to you by tomorrow."

"Thanks." and with a quick wave I was walking back through the hallway and out the metal door again.

With an irritated snarl I pulled out my cell phone and scanned the numbers. I would need help to get my job done before next week; it had been too long since I had done this though I would _never_ forget. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hey Mello, what do I owe the pleasure of this c-" I cut him off wile seating myself on the bike.

"Jasper shut up. You remember what I used to do for the Mafia, correct?" I heard a sharp intake of breath.

"Yeah, I remember." I closed my eyes for a moment. "I need your help to get ready for a job Takahashi needs me to do."

I heard the sound of a glass breaking on the other line. "Mello-" I cut him off again. "I know it will be bad. Will you help or am I going to call Amber?" he sighed heavily.

"Yeah I'll help. Why in gods name did you stay in contact with _him_ of all people..." his voice trailed off at the end but I could tell where he was going with all of this.

"He's not the only one. Besides, I needed the information for a case."

"You're doing this again for information?!" Jasper sounded pissed. He was always hard to deal with when he got like this, even if he was one of the few I actually trusted from _those _days.

"Yes, now get over it or I'm going to Amber." Jasper hated her, mainly because she almost got us killed. I knew very few people on the right side of the law, but it suited me more than wading through all the tape everyone else had to cut through.

"Fine, fine. Jesus Mello... the shit you get yourself into." I laughed. It sounded like something Matt would have said to me. At that I fell silent; thoughts of Matt should be kept far, far away from this.

"When do you want to do this?" I bit my lip at his question, never would be my preferred response.

"Tomorrow, I don't have to meet up with J until the following day so it fits perfectly." Jasper laughed quietly over the phone.

"So you did get in contact with him. I hope I'm getting a bonus for this." I rolled my eyes, trusted or not he was still a money whore.

"If you do good on this next assignment I'll triple it."

He whistled. "Alright then I'll get started right away." he hung up and I frowned. My hand found its way to the rosary that hung concealed beneath my jacket.

_Dear god, forgive me for what I'm about to do._

**-End **_**Prideless**_**-**

**AN 2010: **I didn't really have to edit this one much. I was surprised.....

Anyway, what does everyone think of this so far? Hmmm? Please tell me, I'll give you an invisible Mello plushie if you do.

**Special Thanks to all those who reviewd last chap:** Living in a fantasy, TheMostPatheticNameEver, Eon Manic, Sightlines, Maykitty, Your Alien


	5. Chapter 4: Opportunity

**Disclaimer: **This hasn't changed since my previous ones you know....

**AN: **Wow I cant believe this is going so quickly, and smoothly for that matter! *knocks on wood* Hope you enjoy this chapter, still first person but not Mello..... hmmm I wonder who? (Beta hasn't seen this, sorry)

**Suggested Listening: **Get Stoned **by** Hinder

**Chapter Four: **_Opportunity_

The early morning sun spilled through the window of the small bedroom and roused me from sleep. Groaning, I threw an arm over my eyes. I had a killer headache and was already suffering some early withdrawal symptoms from my drugs of choice.

The side effects were never pleasant but I had gone cold turkey many times simply for the fact that I would forget to take more despite the pain, or maybe because of it.

My body ached as I rolled over and carelessly flung my legs over the edge of the messy bed. Glancing at the clock I swore.

"It's far too early to be awake." I mumbled. My mouth felt dry; like I had eaten a pound of cotton. Stumbling across the room I found a clean shirt and a pair of jeans waiting for me on the computer chair.

Marcus must have put them there; I would have just thrown on anything I had found on the floor. Laughing I opened the bedroom door and strode naked to the shower across the hall.

Hissing as the hot water touched my abused body I leaned my head against the cool glass of the shower door. Everyday started out mostly like this, though it actually depended on whether or not I had gotten any sleep the night or day before. I sighed.

"I wonder what _he _would say if he could see me now?" squeezing my eyes shut I exhaled deeply. Pushing myself away from the glass I proceeded to thoroughly clean myself, a little too much if the greasy feeling my hair gave off was any indication.

I always ended up using way too much conditioner. Eventually I turned the water off and toweled dry before putting on the clean clothes and walking out into the noisy fray of my apartment.

It was a permanent party here; an endless supply of booze, drugs and sex. I had many friends who stayed here frequently and just as many random people I had never so much as spoken to.

I didn't care. They all knew that the laptop and the room that it inhabited was off limits; although sometimes they would disregard that if they hadn't seen me sleep in a few days... or a week.

My senses tingled at the memory of the night before and I flopped boneless on to the ratty couch; techno music blared loudly all around me. I shifted so that my back faced the door and closed my eyes. I was too tired to do much else.

The sound of the door banging against the wall roused me a while later yet I kept my eyes closed. I could feel eyes running over the length of my body and had to suppress a shiver. But it didn't seem that the person's main reason of being here was me for their eyes left me quickly enough.

Relaxing again I tried to fall back asleep until suddenly I was being pulled from the couch by my hair; the person earned a small gasp from me. Struggling I was immediately backhanded; my cheek stung and I knew it would leave a bruise. Landing hard on the grimy carpet I looked up at my attacker.

I nearly smirked, Zane hadn't been here in a while; his short black hair looked impossibly dark due to the clouded atmosphere of the room.

His calloused hands tore the shirt from my body and I allowed him to dispose of my jeans. He nipped at my neck and I jerked back; I hated when he did that. He took my belt and whacked me upside the head with the buckle making my vision fade for a moment. But god did it feel great. He flipped me over, just like Marcus had done to me last night, and shoved himself into me harshly.

I know I screamed; it hurt like hell to my already sore body. I knew I was bleeding by the way he slid more easily in and out. It hurt so fucking much and yet I couldn't help but moan; I craved the pain. My half lidded eyes looked up. I glanced at the leather clad form that was still standing in the doorway and was met with a surprise.

Blond hair, ice blue eyes and a nasty looking scar across the left side of his face. It was Mello. My breath caught in my throat and Zane must have noticed my inattention for he smacked the back of my head.

"Sorry." I mumbled yet not able to take my eyes off of the blond.

"Dobrý pes." Zane murmured to me. Yes, good dog indeed. Mello scrunched his nose in disgust and stalked out of the room.

I allowed Zane to finish what he started, but a satisfying sexual experience was the _last_ thing on my mind at the moment. I had just seen Mello after nearly seven years and I wanted to know _why_ he was here. I had just pulled my pants back on when Zane pulled me into a quick kiss.

"That boy distracted you, do you like him?" Zane asked in that heavy accent of his.

"He reminds me of someone I once knew." and at that I knew Zane would no longer question my interest. Anyone who actually spent any amount of time around me knew to stay out of my past.

"I will leave you to it then." he walked off with a smile and a wave, presumably to go get high as he often did while here. I walked quietly to the kitchen that Mello had entered but stayed just outside and out of sight.

"Why are you looking for J?" I heard Miranda's voice ask.

"I want his help solving a case." She sighed. "If J isn't working on the case already then it's not worth it."

"J will take the case once he sees what I have on it."

My heart raced. Mello wanted to work with J? What could be so important that he would seek _him_ out? I listened to more of the conversation and slid against the wall in thought as Mello went to check out my laptop.

What Miranda said was true, he would never be able to crack the password, never mind bypass it. That wasn't what I was worried about. After all of these years why did he have to fall back into my life? Granted I wasn't exactly living the way I should be, but it was this or death. I could drown out my emotions in drugs and abusive sex because the pain kept me grounded; I had even learned to like it. But Mello brought everything back.

I hit my head on the wall and repeated it a few more times until I was dizzy. If Mello was asking someone like J for help then this case must be something...

"I told you it was impossible." Miranda spoke again and I assumed Mello was back in the kitchen, thank god there were two entrances. I snorted at the comment about this place never seeing a sober day, it was all too true. Pulling my phone from my pocket I held it tightly.

I swallowed thickly; my hands shook around the plastic casing.

Flipping open the cover my fingers were already dialing the number before my mind had finalized its decision.

"Yeah?" came the automatic response, though I could hear the surprise in her voice. "Have him explain what the case is about. I have a feeling it might be interesting."

"I understand. So when do you...?"

"Now. Don't let him leave." I could practically see her nod to my instructions. "Wait!" I heard her cry out. Mello must have been ready to walk out.

"Tell him I have chosen you to speak on my behalf. And that you will decide weather or not the case is worth my time. Take him to the sound room where I can listen in." I ended the call and quickly made my way to my laptop, but not before locking the door behind me. I didn't need to hear the rest of the conversation, I knew Miranda would convince him to stay.

Booting up the laptop I plugged in a set of headphones and put them on as I opened the video and audio feeds for the TV room, otherwise known as the sound room because of all the bugging equipment in it.

"So let's hear about this case." Miranda said from her position on the couch. Mello seemed to be debating something in his mind but eventually explained everything.

Well perhaps not _everything_. I knew that he was holding back information, probably things linking to the orphanage he had been talking about. I watched as Miranda pushed the small red button on her phone and her voice came directly from my computer rather than the program.

"I did, and I will help you with this case. However I expect to be told more about the deaths, mainly the parts you left out as it could possibly hold clues pertaining to the case."

"I can assure you that the information isn't relevant to the case." I watched Mello's face carefully but he seemed neither surprised nor annoyed that I had figured him out.

"I can easily hack the information, which would just take up more time, or you could just give me the information." Mello sighed so softly that I almost missed it. And after a moment he relented and gave the rest of the information.

The letters left with the victims were Y, M, M and W. My eyes widened in realization, how could I have missed all the clues? Someone was after Wammys, or at least trying to lure out those of us who were from Wammys. Namely the detectives it seemed, probably L, and if that were the case who knew what else they knew about Wammys House.

Mello had certainly stumbled onto something huge. It surprised me that L wasn't working on this already, but perhaps he didn't even know about it? Or had he simply sent Mello to do his work? But then why would Mello have need of J with all those resources at his disposal?

L was currently working on another large and rather difficult case, one along the lines of the previous Kira case from years back, so there was no way I could turn Mello away, just the same as he would demand to be kept on the case if I tried to shut him out; it _was _his case.

"Thank you for the information." I knew that my voice came out through a distorter so I wasn't worried about him recognizing it, not that he really would have anyway. Seven years can change many things about a person. He looked up in the direction of one of the cameras that he seemed to have discovered.

"So I have your help on this?" he asked. His face was blank and betrayed no emotion.

"Yes. I will work with you on this. It is intriguing to me." He smirked, but it was unlike any expression I was used to seeing from him. It was the type of smirk that made you weary of a person. Along with his new attire and scar I wondered just what the hell he had gotten himself into since I had last seen him.

"I'll give you a day to get up to speed and do some research on this. I will continue my own investigation in the mean time." he pulled a small pad of paper from his jacket along with a pen and I watched as he scribbled something down.

"This is my number as well as an e-mail you can use to contact me." he handed it to Miranda who took the paper gently from his outstretched hand.

"I will be expecting your call." I now had Mello's number. I would have to call him eventually. My stomach churned unpleasantly at the idea; why was I so nervous about having to call him? I thought I would have gotten over things like this years ago... And yet Mello could so easily pull them from me.

"Miranda, aren't you forgetting something?" my voice called out softly over the speaker. Mello remained quiet but I could see the amusement in his features as Miranda scrambled to pull up something from her phone.

"You will need this e-mail to send J stuff. And this is my number, if you need to speak with J just call me and I'll pass it on."

Mello put the information into his phone and I watched as he stood up and walked from the room with no more than a nod of the head, and I knew by the sound of a closing door he had left the apartment as well. I sighed and placed my head on the desk.

"Mello..." I heard the lock on the door being picked and smiled slightly; Miranda never could leave me alone.

She walked across the room and placed something on the desk, I had a feeling it was the paper with Mello's contact information on it. Nothing was said for a few minutes after she had entered and I wondered just how long she might stand there.

"Matt." I looked up sharply at the sound of a name I hadn't been called in years.

"He's the one who broke your heart, isn't he?" Miranda's tone was angry; her green eyes blazed.

"He's not to blame. I slipped up and got caught. If it's anyone's fault then it's my own." I sounded tired even to myself; having to deal with Mello was just sapping my energy.

"Defend him all you like but you wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for him, you wear contacts and use hair dye religiously to make sure you aren't recognized for Christ's sake!" she threw her hands in the air in frustration and I watched silently as she slammed the door to the room.

"It's not his fault. I'm the one who played with fire _knowing_ that I would get burned." I didn't notice the tear that had slid down my cheek until it landed on my hand. Sighing I wiped it away; honestly I couldn't deal with all of this right now.

My fingers touched the yellow sheet of paper and for a moment I entertained the thought of never looking at it so I wouldn't have to call, that thought passed quickly.

I smiled as I read the paper. Michael Keen. Mello had used a fake name rather than give his alias. I shook my head but programmed that name into my phone along with his number. Leaning back in the chair I idly brought up my e-mail and scanned it for any new messages but found none.

"I suppose it a bit early for him to have sent it already, I don't even know where he's staying..." I ran a hand through my shaggy hair; I really had let it get a bit too long, and sighed. With nothing concerning the case going on I decided to satisfy my curiosity for once, something I had been ignoring for some seven odd years, and see if I could find out information on Mello.

Logging off my email I opened another window to a program I used quite frequently, one that I had designed myself, and began to hack into Wammys server.

It wasn't really all that hard, but I had to make sure I didn't get caught before I could find out what I wanted to know. I was under no illusions that I wouldn't get caught if L had built the system, if he didn't then it would be smooth sailing.

Reaching into the desk beside me I pulled out a guilty pleasure of mine, cigarettes. Placing one in my mouth and lighting it I went back to the task at hand. Around twenty minutes and three close calls later I was in and surfing the data for anything related to Mello.

"Hm..." I released a puff of smoke and clicked on one of three unmarked folders.

"Jackpot." on a stroke of luck I had opened Mello's folder first try. The other two probably belonged to Near and I. I frowned slightly at the size of the document, it looked incomplete, but after all the time he spent there surely there would be more? Scrolling down I noticed a small section starting with 'Dates Of:'. It only had three dates. Date of birth, Date of arrival, and Date of leaving. My eyes widened at the last one. He left mere months after I had!

"What the hell?" I muttered in shock. That couldn't be right. Why would he leave so early, surely L hadn't chosen Near so soon? Or had Mello been chosen as successor? No, he wouldn't be working with me if that were the case, he would have many more resources at his disposal and wouldn't need me.

Nearly biting my cigarette in half I quickly scanned the rest of the document but found little else out. I had an odd feeling about this. I quickly opened one of the remaining two folders and found it to be mine.

Under the section for 'Dates of:' was a section dedicated to what I had done since leaving Wammys, something Mello's didn't have. Mine only showed 'unknown' but I found it odd that Mello didn't even have a space for it.

Backtracking I clicked on the last unmarked folder and scrolled over to the same section and it showed everything Near had done in the last few years. He was still working closely with L but was not his successor apparently.

What the hell was going on? Why were Mello's past activities hidden?

A warning beep came from my computer and I knew it was time to pull out or become trapped in the system. With a frustrated sigh I backed out of Wammys server making sure to cover my tracks well, and hopefully L wouldn't find me should he be monitoring this. That was the last thing I needed at the moment.

Tapping the keyboard softly with my fingers I sat there for a moment just thinking. If I did this there was a possibility that he could find out.

But now that I had found this inconsistency with his data... I couldn't just _leave_ it. I had a bad feeling about all of it, though I wasn't sure why exactly.

My decision made, I began to search for anything I could find on Mello. There was a good chance that whatever it was wasn't exactly on the right side of the law, and that was why it wasn't mentioned in his Wammy file.

I had avoided this for years and the second he stalks his way back into my life I was hooked again. He was like a drug…

How in the hell was I going to make it through this case with my sanity?

**-End **_**Opportunity**_**-**

**AN 2010: **Erm... I wont always leave an AN if I don't have something to say. But while I'm here I wonder if anyone spotted the small things that were changed so far. For me it seems to be taking forever to get to the content I need to change. *shrug*

**AN: **and there we have it, the mysterious J is actually Matt. But honestly who didn't see that one coming? Hahaha. Poor Matt, Mello is really doing a number on him isn't he?

**Special thanks to last chap reviewers**: MayKitty, eryis-blud, Eon Manic,Your Alien, Sightlines

Reviews help me update quicker so go click on the nice button below this. :)


	6. Chapter 5: Powerless

**Disclaimer:** I DO NOT OWN DEATH NOTE! (and any similarities to real life companies and or people is merely coincidence as I don't pay attention to that crap so I cant copy it)

**AN: **This surprisingly, is my favorite chapter so far. Hehe.

oH and before I forget, **TheMostPatheticNameEver**, you were correct about why I chose the letter 'J' ^_^

**Musical Influences**: 'Letters From The Sky' **by** Civil Twilight; 'Red Blooded Woman' **by** Kylie Minogue; 'Smoke and Mirrors' **by** Skye Sweetnam; 'Blood on the Dance floor' **by **Blood on the Dance floor.

**Chapter Five: **_Powerless _

_~Mello~_

I stumbled into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Shucking off my clothing I slid under the burning hot spray of the water letting it scald my skin. I felt so damn disgusting and the feeling wouldn't go away.

This was why I never did those types of jobs anymore. Blood mixed with the clear water and swirled down the drain; my stomach lurched at the sight. I leaned my head on the cool tile and willed the rising bile to go away.

Taking deep breathes I tried to silence my thoughts, to give myself some peace if only for a moment. The instant my eyes slid shut everything replayed like a demented slideshow. With a frustrated cry my fist pounded against the wall.

"Damn it!" the words were chipped and stuck in my throat; I felt dizzy.

My legs buckled and I slid to the shower floor and I allowed myself to hunch over. This was never supposed to happen again, I had gotten out of all this... but due to _one_ case, one _fucking _case no matter how important it was, I was pulled back into it.

My fingernails bit into the flesh of my thighs and I let out a strangled cry. I had broken my promise with L and I wasn't sure I could ever forgive myself for it. I couldn't forgive myself for what I had done, what I had let...

My cell phone went off and I knew it would be Jasper calling to check up on me. He _knew_ I would lose it.

"He knows me too damn well..." I took a deep shuddering breath to calm myself. I could have a breakdown after this case was finished. And only after. Maybe not even then, I still had to find Matt. My heart clenched at the mere thought of him.

I had never regretted something as much as the fight I had with him. He had tried to explain everything and I had shot him down at every turn; I had basically told him I hated him. Over something as completely stupid as him getting first position in Wammys. He could have been there the entire time, but he had held everything back; given up something great just to be my friend and I had thrown it back in his face.

It made me sick every time I thought about those things I had told him. He was my only friend, the only one who would put up with me, the only one who understood me, the only one that I... my cell phone rang again.

Cursing in irritation I pushed the shower curtain back and grabbed the phone off the bathroom counter.

"What?!" I snarled.

"You're doing better than I expected." Jasper told me in a slightly amused but mostly worried tone.

"I'm not going to slit my wrists if that's what you are thinking."

He sighed on the other end. "Must you be so difficult?" I snorted. He had no idea.

"What do you want?" the water was turning cool and I didn't want to take a cold shower after _that_. Cold showers didn't make you clean.

"Just making sure you weren't having a meltdown, or had at least gotten over it..." I glared at the phone as though it would send my disdain to Jasper.

"Well I'm obviously fine, and my shower is loosing its warmth, so I'm ending this call." I heard him mutter a small _whatever_ as I ended the call before turning off my cell phone. I didn't want any more distractions.

After that I concentrated on furiously scrubbing my skin and hair clean of any filth still remaining after my long sit in the hot water. Once my body was rubbed raw and I was satisfied with everything I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower.

Shaking my head in irritation I flung open the bathroom door and stalked into my bedroom to change as I hadn't brought anything in with me. While lacing up my leather pants I glanced at the clock. 5:53 pm. I had been in the shower for a little over an hour. No wonder the water had gone cold towards the very end.

My stomach grumbled in hunger but the though of actually _eating_ something made me queasy. Still, I made my way into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Cringing at the foods that were available I settled on a bar of dark chocolate.

I had lived off of them before and I would do it now if it came to that. Pealing the wrapper back I sank my teeth into the bar and snapped off a piece hoping it wouldn't make me want to hurl. The moment the rich taste hit my tongue I began to relax.

Exiting the kitchen I walked a few short steps to my laptop that sat on a small coffee table situated in the middle of the living room just in front of a TV and a couch. I hardly ever used the television.

Flopping onto the couch I hit the power button on my laptop and waited for it to turn on. Slowly munching on the chocolate I let my thoughts wander, and regretted it as soon as they wandered to a few hours earlier.

The chocolate in my mouth turned to ash and I set the bar down on the table while forcing myself not to spit out what I already had. With a frown I checked my e-mail and found one new one. Opening it I realized it was from J.

"He certainly works quickly." I scanned the contents of the document and was pleased that he had come to some of the same conclusions as I had. Obviously not all of them as he didn't know what Wammys was truly for.

He was currently searching for any new leads. That reminded me of the package that was waiting for me on the table. I had received it earlier but hadn't gotten a chance to actually look at it due to business....

Tearing open the packing tape I slid out the disk and popped it into my laptop rom drive. Clicking on _open_ the footage immediately began to play. Leaning foreword I adjusted the sound to my headphones so that it was the only thing I could hear.

For a few minutes it was only Daniel Loges working at his desk and talking on the phone. The moment he set his phone down however a loud _creak_ made him look up with surprise. It was past working hours so no one else should have been there.

I watched as a tall man in a business suit walked up to Daniel and pulled out a gun. My eyebrows raised; that was bold of him.

"What do you know about Wammys House, the orphanage you have dealings with?" the voice sounded computerized and I knew that even if I analyzed it I would come up empty handed.

"What do you mean? It's just an orphanage!" Daniel's voice trembled yet his expression remained firm. _Sigh_. "That was the wrong answer." _bang bang bang_.

Daniel was the third victim and he was shot three times in the head. The man took something out of his suit pocket and placed it underneath Daniels hand; it was the letter. The man then turned and looked directly at the security camera. His face was covered by a mask of an angry smiley. He raised his hand and made it like a gun.

"Bang. You're next detective." my blood ran cold. There was no doubt now that this was meant for L, for no one knew of his successors. Or at least no one was supposed to.

Running a hand through my wet hair I stared at the screen in contempt. What would I do now? I had evidence that would prove useful, even if only in a slight way, but _should_ I show it to J?

It would undoubtedly raise questions about Wammys that I didn't want J thinking about.

"Fuck." I shouted into the empty room. Why did everything concerning this case have to be so damn difficult? Deciding it was easier to just decide in the morning I pocketed my phone and after grabbing my keys left the apartment. I just needed to drive.

I ended up at a nightclub called 'Fallen Angel'; it was one I frequented years ago... the bouncer at the door nodded to me and let me in, apparently my face was still well known.

The moment I stepped inside my ears were assaulted with the deep base of a gothic sounding techno song that I might have known the words to if I could actually hear the words over the base. Bodies swayed and clung to one another on the dance floor in a shapeless mass and multicolored lights flickered on and off to the beat.

Making my way down the steps I waded through the mess of people until I reached the bar and was able to sit down. Ordering a shot of whiskey and a beer I glanced inconspicuously at the people gathered near me.

So far none of them were anyone I knew or could get information out of.

Gulping down the whiskey I slammed the glass on the counter and turned my attention elsewhere. Taking a swig of beer I saw a familiar face and waved them over. The man walked over to me, his grin wide and filled with desire, I hated him.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" he laughed as he eyed me up and down with a neatly raised eyebrow.

"Hello Dom." Dom always said his name was short for something else, but had never revealed what it was, most likely Dominic.

"I take it that you aren't here for social visits or nostalgia?" he said while sliding onto the stool beside me.

"No."

"Hm. Then I might have something for you." I sipped lightly at my beer and pretended not to be interested, he always loved to play games with people, but if he was serious about what he was saying he would be persistent.

"Now don't give me the cold shoulder. I really do have something you might like to hear." I rolled my eyes.

"And what might that be?" he touched my arm and I stared at him.

"I want something out of it." snorting I went back to my beer.

"Of course you do." he ordered a martini before restarting the conversation.

"Alright I'll tell you, but if you find this information useful you know what I want." this had my attention; he usually wouldn't tell what he knew upfront, so that made me curious.

"Fine." he grinned and leaned in close; his breath tickled my neck as he spoke into my ear.

"Someone is looking for you."

"What do you mean 'looking for me'?" I hissed to him. "Well two different someone's actually." he thanked the bartender for his drink and took a small sip before continuing.

"You have recently begun working on a new case haven't you?" he questioned me. I nodded; it was no secret to my contacts so I knew it would have been leaked. "Well lately someone, I don't know who, has been asking many interesting questions about you. And asking about Wammys, whatever that is." my mouth went dry.

"Wammys?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, is it something important?" I shook my head and kept my face blank.

"Just not something I'd expect anyone to ask about." my hands shook around the beer bottle and I had to force myself to act normally.

"If anyone knows where you stay I'd suggest that you pack up and leave soon, this mystery person seems to have it in for you. As for the other one, it's just a rumor, but it seems that someone I trying to find out all they can about your time in the mafia." it felt like I had swallowed a block of ice and I thought back to the surveillance video.

Perhaps the man hadn't been talking about L at all, but if not, then why me? It didn't make sense, so it had to be someone I used to work with or someone who had a grudge against me. There was no way to tell and the list for both was a mile long. As if that wasn't bad enough someone was digging around in my mafia roots, that had me more on edge than the possible threat to my life.

"I know this is good intel so I expect you to pay up." he slapped a few dollars onto the table and walked off into the crowd but I knew exactly where he was going. Fingering my rosary and sending out a silent prayer I left money on the counter and followed him.

The moment I walked through the doorway I was slammed into the wall and kisses were trailed along my neck and jaw line. One hand began to unlace my leather pants and the other turned the lock on the bathroom door.

I shivered at the coolness that hit my bare legs but didn't have time to think as I was spun around and bent over the sink. Two fingers entered me and I groaned.

"You can't tell me you haven't missed this." Dom whispered into my ear as he added a third finger. "Yes." _Yes I can tell you I didn't miss this._ In fact I was _happy _to leave it all behind me.

He removed his fingers and nudged my entrance with something far larger. There would be no pleasure in this for me merely a form of payment, a service if you will, for the given information.

My hips jerked foreword as he thrust into me, I was unable to hold back a cry of pain. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on anything else.

"Hmm. God you are tight." I wasn't sure how after what had occurred earlier today but I wasn't going to comment on it.

One of his hands slid down to my hips and held them in place as he fucked me while the other hand went to my vest and unzipped it. I hissed as a nipple was pinched but managed not to make any other sounds; the blood running down my split lip attested to it.

His teeth ghosted over the flesh of my neck before he bit down more than hard enough to leave a mark.

"Ah fuck!" I swore I would kill him for this. Promises be damned he was going to die for marking me. There was only one person I wanted to do that, and that most certainly was _not_ him. His thrusts were quicker and lacked pace, he was close.

I grit my teeth as he kissed along my back; my hands gripped the counter tightly. With a grunt I could feel as the warm liquid of his orgasm filled me and was wholly disgusted by it.

After a few more short trusts he pulled out of me and stepped away with a grin.

"You haven't changed. You still don't get hard from this."

I narrowed my eyes at him but he was already replacing his lost clothing. Pulling my pants back up I took the gun out of my pocket and stared at it for a moment.

"Hey Dom?" I questioned emotionlessly.

"Yeah?" I turned to face him.

"Didn't I tell you before that no one is allowed to mark me?" I cocked my head to the side. He smirked; he obviously hadn't seen the gun yet.

"That was then." he said with a shrug. I laughed harshly.

"And this is now, right?" I finished for him.

"Dom." he looked at me as I said his name in a tone I hadn't used in a very _long_ time.

"I believe that now, you have outlived your potential usefulness." I smirked cruelly as his eyes widened. I aimed the gun and put a bullet through his head. His brains plastered across the bathroom walls and his body fell to the floor in a heap.

I looked at the smoking gun in my hand. This was exactly why L had made me promise two different things. I had already broken one of them today, so doing it twice was not weighing as heavily on my consciousness as it should have been, and now I had broken the other.

Maybe I was numb, in shock maybe, but I didn't feel a damn thing about my current situation.

I grimaced as I felt something sticky slide down my leg; there was no way I was doing anything else until I had showered again. Shoving the gun into the front of my pants, and fixing my vest and jacket, I unlocked the bathroom door and walked out.

The rest of the night was a blur to me, I didn't remember getting home, showering or even going to bed. And I certainly didn't remember the two bottles of whiskey I had downed. Not until I had woken up with the sun shining in my eyes and pain exploding in my skull.

Rolling onto my side my head pounded. Squinting I was able to read the time on the digital clock. 9:45 am. I groaned and sat up but regretted it when my sore body protested.

Standing sluggishly I wandered into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee before showering again. Once I was done I sat at my small kitchen table, hair wet, and a cup of coffee in front of me.

Ripping open a bar of chocolate I dumped it into the coffee before taking a sip. Perfect. I was only halfway done with my _breakfast_ when my cell phone rang. I didn't even know I had it turned on again. Seeing the number I picked it up.

"What?" Jasper snorted on the other line.

"Are you ever going to greet me with something different?" I thought about it for a moment.

"No. What did you call for? Anything new?"

"Have you eaten anything today, or even yesterday?" my stomach rolled mutinously at the mention of food and I had to force myself not to gag.

"I'm eating right now." I replied testily.

"Chocolate doesn't count. Have you eaten any real food?" Jasper stressed the word 'real' and I bit my lip.

"And don't lie to me or I won't help you next time." I closed my eyes.

"No." I heard the quiet sigh he gave.

"You can't go back to that. Not after all this time." I narrowed my eyes.

"And you think I like doing this? Like feeling like this?!" I shouted into the phone.

"I can remember every fucking detail and I relive it every time I close my eyes, every time my mind isn't completely occupied so forgive me if I can't stomach anything." I snarled into the phone before ending the conversation with a _snap_ of the phone.

I picked up a glass that had been sitting on the counter and hurled it at the wall and watched in satisfaction as it shattered into thousands of minuscule pieces. The phone buzzed silently in my hand and I glared at it. But upon seeing the name I answered it.

"Yeah?"

"There has been another murder." J's distorted voice spoke quietly over the speaker.

"When?" _and why the hell hadn't I heard about it?_

"A little over thirty minutes ago. Samantha Bustler, CEO of Command Electronics." Command Electronics? I thought back to the information I had gathered and they were a large donator of Wammys electronic equipment.

"Any other letters found?" I asked.

"Yes, just one as always. An 'S'." the killer, though I suppose he could be getting help, was getting closer and closer to spelling Wammys House, only a few more letters. And I knew we couldn't let it get that far, it had already gone on for too long.

"Have you sent anyone to the scene?" there was a short moment of silence before he stated 'No'.

"I'm going to head over there then, there might be clues. Doubtful but it's worth a shot." Of course knowing that the killer was a male was a clue, as well as the footage, but I decided that it was best if he didn't view the recording.

"Head over here first and I will have Miranda as well as someone else go with you. They are both rather observant despite how they may otherwise seem." I rolled my eyes. I was getting two tag-a-longs that I didn't need. I immediately shook the thought, it couldn't hurt to have two extra sets of eyes, and I had asked for his help. Though it did seem eerily similar to how L worked.

"Alright I'll leave now; I should be there in under an hour." J said no more and I let the call drop. I threw a black jacket on and placed my phone in one of the unzipped pockets and after making sure the gun was still resting in the front of my pants, like it could really go anywhere, I grabbed my keys and left the apartment.

The temperature outside had dropped significantly since the night before and with the wind it chilled me to the bones. Shivering, I hopped on my bike and began the long drive back to J's apartment.

Once there I ran up the steps and into apartment 313 as quickly as I could, mainly because of the temperature but I also didn't want to linger around the smell of piss and rotting flesh for too long either.

The door was unlocked just like last time so I was able to walk right in. One would think that someone like J would be a little paranoid about his security, or at least _lock_ the door out of habit. Miranda was waiting for me on the main couch and seemed to be in a one-sided conversation with the hazel eyed man from the other day. Was he the other one J spoke of?

"Ah, Mr. Keen. Perfect timing. Are you ready to go?" Miranda asked while getting up. I shrugged.

"And call me Michael, not Mr. Keen. I'm not that old." the redhead looked flustered at that and stammered out something I didn't quite catch. I raised an eyebrow, what was up with her? The hazel eyed man stood up as well.

"I'm Emerson. I'll also be going with you today." he had a slightly slouched stance that seemed familiar to me though I couldn't place it as it looked odd on him.

"Well, lets go, we are burning daylight here." Miranda mumbled with her head turned away from the both of us.

"I already have my keys so let's go." Emerson said while walking to the door.

"I assume I'm going to follow you?" I said as we left the apartment I had only just gotten to. Emerson turned to me with amusement in his eyes.

"Actually no." I stared at him with a look that clearly said _explain_.

"We're taking my car." he said while pointing to an old beat up looking 1970's Camaro that was littered with what looked like bullet holes. Just _perfect_.

**-End **_**Powerless**_**-**

**AN:** Yay, we finally start to skim the details of what Mello's job was, though it really wasn't all that hard to figure out.

**Special thanks to last chapter reviewers**: Living in a fantasy, Sightlines, TheMostPatheticNameEver, Jamie, Mia-Gabriella

Anyway, what did everyone think of this chapter? Review and tell me your loves/hates. It helps me if you tell me what you think worked and didn't work. Really it does.

REVIEW!


	7. Chapter 6: Clueless

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Death Note.... damn

**AN:** This is actually my least favorite chapter, namely because it was a bitch to write. It just didn't want to cooperate with me, AT ALL.

**Suggested Listening**: Real World **by** All American Rejects

**Chapter Six:** _Clueless_

_~Matt~_

I smirked as Mello's face darkened; his eyes moving along the length of my car. It had once been a great car but after a little incident during a case it was pretty much KO'd. It had more bullet holes in it than I had brain cells.

It was that bad. But it still ran pretty well, after I had replaced the engine that is. I still hadn't gotten around to fixing the rest of it. That would come when I had the patience and the time to do it.

"Front or back?" I asked him while gesturing to the car. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Back is fine."

I smirked. He seemed to know I was playing with him, and it was odd to see him do it back to someone he didn't _know_. When we were younger he probably would have blushed and hit someone had they asked him that, myself included. I guess the years really will change a person.

I got in the drivers seat, Miranda in the passenger, and Mello sat behind me in the backseat. Lighting a cigarette with one hand I steered us away from the ratty apartment with the other.

"What exactly are we looking for at the scene?" Miranda questioned from my right. Mello snorted.

"Anything." I noticed her scowl in annoyance. I wondered if she would ever get along with him, because at the rate they were going, a full scale fight was on the rise. That was really the last thing I needed.

"Shouldn't you at least have a clue as to what we need to find, oh great Sherlock?" Miranda spat from her seat, her arms crossed.

"That's exactly it. A clue. What more do you want, the murderer sitting on the front steps?" Mello had his eyes closed and gave off a 'fuck you' aura. Why had I wanted to come along? Oh yes, because I was still hopelessly attached to the blonde.

"Now I see why J wanted me to come along." I stated aloud. Miranda shot me a glare and I smirked around my cigarette.

"And why is that?" I head Mello mumble from the backseat.

"To keep you two from killing each other before the case is solved." I watched as the corner of Mello's lip twitched, as though he wanted to smile but forced himself not to. A cell phone rang out loudly in the car and I heard shuffling from the back and knew it was Mello's.

"What?" he snapped irritably into the phone. Whoever was on the other end had completely erased his good mood.

"No, now isn't a good time-" I couldn't quite make out what the other person was saying but they were definitely shouting. Mello flicked a glance at Miranda and I before he switched to another language.

"_**I don't need to hear you of all people lecturing me on how I obtain my information!" **_he hissed angrily in German.

I suppose he though neither of us would know it, and in truth I knew Miranda couldn't understand a word of it. I on the other hand had brushed up on other languages in the last seven years. German happened to be one of many that I had mastered.

What had Mello done in the past day that would warrant the even more pronounced shouting from the other line?

"_**Don't you dare bring my past with **_**them**_** into this. It was a one, excuse me two time, thing. You know I needed the stuff for my case." **_his voice was chipped and even more volatile in German.

_What did you get yourself into Mels?_

I forced myself to divert my attention to the road; the car would probably completely fall apart if we got into an accident, no to mention we could, I don't know, die? Miranda seemed to share those thoughts as she pinched me in the arm and pointed towards the road.

"_**Fuck you Jasper! And yes, Dom was my work. Prick deserved it for marking me." **_

Mello snarled into the phone, no longer trying to remain quiet. He slammed the phone shut and stuffed it into his pocket. Not even a second later it rang again but he ignored it and instead pulled out a bar of dark chocolate. He closed his eyes and snapped a piece off, grinding it between his teeth.

This only made my thoughts wander even more. What did he mean by 'marking me'? And more importantly what did Mello mean by 'his work'?

Somehow I managed to get us to the crime scene in one piece even with my distracted thoughts. Parking the car around the corner, since I was sure the local police wouldn't take too kindly to the holes in my car, our mismatched group exited the metal death trap. And that was when I saw it.

Mello's coat had shifted as he heaved himself from the backseat and exposed his neck. There was a large bite mark, red and inflamed, that adorned his tanned skin. My eyes narrowed. Just who the hell had given him that? Miranda seemed to have noticed my less than friendly demeanor and hit me in the arm.

"Think about whatever the hell it is later, the case comes first." she hissed into my ear. She was of course correct. I would have plenty of time later to brood over this. As we walked over to the police tape Mello pulled something from his pocket and before the cop could even ask anything the object was shoved into the guys face.

Looking over the documents the cop eyed the three of us before sighing heavily and letting us pass. Miranda glanced at me and I shrugged. We hadn't even needed to use our fake Id's. It wasn't like I could say I was a mostly secret underground detective and expect to be let in.

The smell in the apartment was nauseating as we stepped in, and yet Mello didn't even bat an eyelash. It was the thick coppery smell of too much blood. There was blood spatter in every immediate direction, and the room we were in was huge, the woman had been a CEO after all. They had already moved the body and I mentally swore for not knowing about the death as soon as it happened. So much evidence could have been lost...

"Hm.." Mello cocked his head to the side and I watched curiously as he paused by where the victim had lain. Following his gaze I saw nothing more than blood, however the spilled blood formed that of a cross.

"Does this have any real religious meaning or is the killer just trying to hide something? Or throw us off the trail somehow?" Miranda asked although she made no move to go closer to the blood. Mello walked to the opposite side of the room so I started searching for anything useful right where I was. We all knew it was a long shot.

Whoever was killing was precise, and wouldn't leave anything behind that they didn't want to be found. I was beginning to think that maybe this person had a career in something that required a lot of organization, something that forced them to be neat to the point where they might not even notice it themselves.

Of course that was merely speculation; the person could just be a neat freak. And yet I felt my theory was closer to the truth though I couldn't explain why. Holding in a sigh I scanned the bookshelf in the corner. There was nothing out of place save for a white binder. Odd considering the organization of the surrounding area.

Picking up the item, I quickly leafed through the contents, it was nothing more than a business log. A thought stopped me.

"I wonder..." scanning the pages I found what I was looking for. Wammys House. Command Electronics donated a large amount of equipment to Wammys, and had been doing so for years. They were on the list I had made. But there were far more than two companies left on the list, and I had a feeling it would be very difficult to figure out just which ones this criminal would be targeting.

"Find anything?" Miranda asked as she walked up to me.

"Not really, just confirming something I already knew." she peered over my shoulder and made a noise of agreement.

"There must be some sort of pattern... maybe in how much the companies donated or sold to this orphanage?" she questioned. It wasn't like I hadn't already thought of that, and I was sure Mello had already as well, there was simply nothing to go on. In an odd twist of irony, the one case I can't seem to solve instantly happened to be the one Mello was involved in.

Across the room Mello was being pulled aside by a police officer who was gesturing to something in a plastic evidence bag. Strolling over to them I left Miranda standing by the bookshelf. The officer held out the item and showed it Mello, as well as myself once I got there.

"Do any of you know what the letter_ 'S' _might stand for?" the officer asked. When neither of us replied the officer sighed.

"Then what about what's on the back?" Mello and I shared a look and Mello took the paper from the officer and flipped it over. _Dear DM_. Mello frowned, but shook his head. The _M_ couldn't possibly stand for Mello could it? Then what about the _D_, detective perhaps?

But why would the killer be leaving the letter for Mello? It didn't make sense unless I was missing something.

There had to be something else that the killer left at another or possibly even all of the crime scenes. "It seems that no one has any idea what these mean." the officer sounded frustrated as he turned away. And I knew exactly how he felt.

Mello seemed uncomfortable after the appearance of 'Dear DM'. Was there something that he knew and wasn't telling me? I pondered that but ultimately discarded the idea. If Mello knew something he would tell us, especially if it meant he were in danger.

"So instead of gaining more clues we gained more questions?" Miranda said as she stood beside me, when she had even gotten there I couldn't tell.

"Seems like it..." Mello murmured distractedly.

"I'm sure that J can get the crime scene photos easier than I could, correct?" Mello asked, turning to me. I nodded.

"Good, because I need to see them."

"Think of something new?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"Not necessarily new. But I need to confirm something. Though J no doubt has already noticed it." then as if he finally remembered we had been searching in different places, asked if either of us found anything.

"No, but Emerson did confirm that Command Electronics did donate to the Wammys Houe orphanage." Mello's eye twitched as she said Wammys but he said nothing in return. There were too many people being exposed to Wammys name, too many questions that were being raised.

I was sure that L would be on the case soon, there would be no way he couldn't hear about this. But some selfish part of me wanted to solve the case with Mello, secrets be damned. That same part of me was now the reason I was using hair dye and contacts.

"I suppose we should head back. Miranda, you should probably call J and let him know that we need all the crime scene photos." Miranda shot me a confused look but did as she was told. She looked even more confused when the phone in my pocket didn't vibrate. It was so fun to mess with her.

I had purposely shut my phone off before we got into the car so that it would go straight to voicemail. She looked very irritated as she left a message while pretending to actually speak with me. Yes, very amusing.

The drive back was painfully silent and not even Miranda dared to break it. Parking the car wreck on wheels in exactly the same spot none of us spoke until we entered the apartment.

"I'll be right back." I murmured and was able to slip into the laptop room unnoticed. I quickly hacked the needed photos and sent them to another laptop, one that was in the living room. It was also mine but I had it set up to delete everything after a twelve hour time frame, it was used mainly for situations like this should they occur.

Shutting the laptop down I quickly exited the kitchen via the main door, which led directly to the living room. Entering the living room I watched as Mello stood awkwardly while Miranda conversed with one of our stoned guests. Quickly texting Miranda, I made it known that although I had acquired the data, we were to wait a little while before telling _Michael_ about it. Otherwise it would be all too obvious that I was J.

"Hm. J says that he will be getting to the pictures soon, he is currently doing something for another case. But it shouldn't be more than an hour before he has everything. I wish J wouldn't work on more than one thing at once. Honestly." Miranda was a convincing liar when she wanted to be and for someone who doesn't know her, like Mello, she can seem genuine.

"Well, I'm starved so I say we eat while we wait." Miranda said while practically dragging us to the kitchen.

"Who the hell left the oven on? Bunch of idiots." she growled and turned the over dial to off.

"Now it's all hot in here..." she shrugged off her jacket and rested it on the back of a chair. She was right, it was hot, enough that it actually bothered me.

I unzipped the blue fleece jacket I wore and copied Miranda as I also placed my discarded jacket on a chair back.

"What do you guys want?" I shrugged a shoulder, I really couldn't care less. Food was food. "I'm fine with this." Mello said while waving around a chocolate bar.

"You're all useless." she rolled her eyes and began rummaging through the refrigerator, eventually pulling out all the fixings to make sandwiches. She dumped everything onto the kitchen table and seated herself across from me.

"Take your jacket off, that thing must be like a furnace!" Miranda was staring intently at Mello. Apparently not wanting to argue, but looking apprehensive at the same time, he removed his jacket.

"Whoa! What happened to your neck?!" Miranda gasped.

"I got mauled by a bear." Mello informed her sarcastically. "But don't worry I shot it." his tone turned just a little too sadistic for my liking.

Then it clicked. _Dom was his work._ Did that mean he had shot someone for doing that to him? And what in the hell was going on for Mello to receive that bite mark. My stomach flopped uncomfortably at the possibilities.

"Sure, whatever. Either way eat something." she motioned towards the store bought meats and cheeses that sat beside a jar of pickles and mustard. I sighed. I really wasn't in the mood for a sandwich now that I saw it, but it was food.

Grabbing two slices of bread I poured mustard on it and slapped a few pieces of ham and turkey on it. Topping it with swiss cheese and a few pickles I placed it on a paper towel and slide it to my side of the table. Mello had yet to even _look_ at the food.

"Sure you don't want something?" I asked as I took a bite of the sandwich. Mello glanced over at me before quickly averting his eyes and mumbling a soft 'no'. That was not a normal reaction to the sight of food, and I doubt he had recognized me or I would probably be on the floor getting my face beaten in.

"Do you have a thing against sandwiches or something?" Miranda persisted as she finished making her own.

"No, I'm just not hungry." the growling of his stomach at that moment contradicted him.

"Oh, so you're on a diet to fit into your leather." Mello glared darkly at her.

"Unlike you I don't need to diet to fit into something like this." Miranda glared back and I sighed. Honestly, why did I even bother?

"Then why not eat something, it's not like we poisoned it. We wouldn't be eating it if we did." she jerked her turkey sandwich in his direction; I think she liked getting a rise out of him. However I had a feeling that she might not like it if he snapped.

"I just happen to prefer chocolate." he angrily snapped of a piece to prove his point, but the expression on his face turned sour and he closed his eyes for a moment and breathed deeply. What the hell was wrong with him? He leaned foreword slightly before standing up.

"Excuse me." his hand went to cover his mouth and he walked quickly off towards the bathroom. That was not normal by any means.

"You don't think he has an eating disorder do you?" Miranda whispered guiltily. My finger tapped my lip gently.

"No. From the way his figure looks I'd say no." she raised an eyebrow.

"You already checked him out?" I choked on my next bite of food and eyed her wearily. "No more than I would eye you." she laughed.

"You really suck at lying to me." I grimaced. "He could just be getting sick..." she continued on to the other topic, though I knew my little slip up was going to be brought up later.

"It doesn't seem like that either..." I trailed off as a pale faced Mello walked back into the kitchen. I had a feeling it had to do with the mysterious phone call from earlier, and whatever he was involved in within the past day or two. I would pull out all the stops now concerning Mello's missing data, it was no longer just curiosity that drove me; he was making me worried.

After a few moments of awkward silence Mello picked up the forgotten chocolate bar and eyed it apprehensively. Lifting it to his lips he nibbled at the end experimentally, and when nothing adverse happened he bit a larger chunk off. Since I had finished my food, and Miranda was mostly done, I decided that it was time for a text message from J.

Carefully I slid my phone from my pocket and using my memory of the keys, texted Miranda. Miranda looked up sharply at the beeping of her phone and glanced quickly at me.

"Alright, J has sent the photos to the living room laptop. So if you are ready we can take a look at them." Mello nodded and stood from his seat immediately. The rest of us followed suit but let Miranda lead us to the living room, though it was merely a doorway away.

I shooed a few people off the couch and the three of us sat around the laptop, Mello in the middle with Miranda on his right and me to his left. He opened the files I had sent and Miranda quickly looked away. She had never been one for dead bodies or blood. Mello quickly flipped through the photos while his sharp eyes memorized everything he saw.

"Yes, so this confirms the pattern I had noticed." The first victim had been shot at the base of their skull and left to bleed to death on their office floor. The second victim had been stabbed twice and placed in their bed; the third was shot three times in his office. The fourth had been burned, which seemed to break the pattern that had been going on; but upon closer inspection the pattern remained.

Three other lethal chemicals had been found in their bloodstream so along with being burnt, it made four. The newest victim had been stabbed five times in different areas of their body in order for the blood to form the shape of the cross.

"As well as proves the killer is obsessed with order."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Miranda questioned.

"If you look at the crime scenes themselves, everything is neat; nothing is out of place unless it is meant to be." Miranda looked confused.

"What, about that is neat?" she pointed to the picture of victim number two.

"Do you honestly expect a struggle to not have occurred?" Miranda shook her head.

"So where is the evidence of it? Where are the overturned items, the signs of struggle that should be around the house as we know the body was moved post death." Mello, although going a different route than I had, had come to at least part of the same conclusion I had. The killer liked things to be precise. Perfect. A killer like that was perhaps even more dangerous than a spontaneous one.

"I agree." I said while motioning to the pictures.

"In victim fives apartment, the entire bookshelf was completely organized, and everything was put away. Everything except the business records that had the dealing with Wammys House in it."

"I wonder if there are other things that were missed as we weren't there to see the scenes?" Mello drummed his gloved fingers against his thigh in thought.

"Why don't you send these to your e-mail and you can look at them later. I'm sure you are sick of hanging around here for now, and it looks like all we can do is play catch up for today." Mello nodded to me absentmindedly and did as he was told. It bothered me that he was being this silent, and compliant for that matter. It once again gave me the feeling that he was hiding something.

"Done." he said while standing.

"I suppose that if anything else comes up before tomorrow we will contact one another?" he asked Miranda.

"Yeah, so you'll be back tomorrow?" he nodded.

"Unless I find something else out there isn't much we can do on our own." he nodded to us before entering the kitchen to retrieve his jacket and leave out the front door.

"Is he living up to your expectations?" Miranda asked as soon as the door shut.

"I never had any for him, I already knew he was smart enough for this." I spoke softly.

"You just love to torture yourself don't you?" she asked irritably. She heaved herself off the couch and went to the other side of the room leaving me alone, although I was surrounded by other people. Not wanting to deal with this any longer I vacated my spot on the couch, which was quickly filled, and left for the laptop room.

It was dark when I entered and I didn't bother to turn the lights on. Shuffling my way through the room I managed to turn on the computer and seat myself on the chair without incident. I didn't need to worry about the computer in the living room still being on since all the data would be gone in under eleven hours from now. Checking my e-mails made me smirk in triumph.

One of the people who had worked with me before had come through for me again and sent me an encrypted file. As long as I could hack into it without setting off any of the traps the original holder had then all of Mello's history for the last seven years would literally be at my fingertips.

Opening a program from the start screen I added the file to it and began to carefully sift through the files. I needed to find the actual data that was mixed in with useless junk and viruses. It wasn't a hard task but it was tedious.

After an hour I lifted my fingers from the keys and stretched the cramps from them. Lighting a cigarette I let it rest loosely in the corner of my mouth while smoke trailed off to the side. I was finally done.

Clicking on the earliest dated file I pulled it open under a word document and began to read. From the wording of this, it was written by L, how the hell had they gotten their hands on this? I might as well give them a bonus for this. Halfway down the page I frowned.

The further I read the worse it got, and this was only one of twenty documents. At least it wasn't anything too bad so far. He had left Wammys not long after I did and had made his way to America, our current location, and gotten a few shady jobs to earn money. After all, what respectable job would hire a fourteen year old?

Closing out that document I opened the next one. At the end of the first paragraph my cigarette slipped from my mouth.

"Oh God."

**-End **_**Clueless**_**- **

**AN:** Buwhahaha! Cliffhanger! Though it could be worse. And I seriously dislike this chapter.... the next one should be better as I am looking foreword to it. Mello's pov and all. Eh well, Matt just didn't want to work with me on this one.

Either way, review and tell me what you thought of this. :)

**Special thanks to last chapter reviwers: **MayKitty, Mia-Gabriella, Eon Manic, Living in a fantasy, Diabolus Kara, Sightlines, eryis-blud


	8. Chapter 7: Deception

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Death Note, Something In Your Mouth or Red Blooded Woman, happy?

**AN: **Well, things certainly get interesting here.......

**Suggested Listening**: 'Something In Your Mouth' by Nickelback**; **The Book Not The Feeling **by **A Kiss Could Be Deadly (I love this band)

**Chapter Seven**: _Deception _

_~Mello~ _

I slammed my fist on the bike as I seated myself. How the hell could I have lost control like that in front of them? I was sent running to the bathroom just from the sight of food, I hadn't even eaten any of it. I sighed heavily and rubbed at my face.

The only upside to this would be that I would end up saving money on food for the next week or so. Other than chocolate that is. I was still able to stomach that for the moment. At my worst moment I hadn't even been able to eat that, and I had a hard time getting used to eating normally afterwards.

I hoped that this time wouldn't get that bad, but nothing with this case was going well.

I didn't really pay attention to where I was driving and ended up passing my apartment and had to backtrack. Swearing, I made my way to my place and closed the door with a slam. The moment I set my keys on the counter my phone rang.

"What the fuck do you want?!" I snarled to Jasper.

"I'll forgive you this time since you seem to have PMS the past few days. We, or rather you, have a major problem." although normally I probably would have screamed at him for that comment I let it go in favor of his last statement.

"And what might that be?" I asked tersely. "Someone got a hold of your file." my mouth went dry.

"My file? As in my _mafia_ file?" I whispered. Jasper hesitated, and that was not a good sign.

"I'm still trying to figure out exactly what they wanted it for, since it doesn't seem like they were the ones who actually wanted it..." I swallowed thickly. I would have to tell L about this, as much as I hated it. He was the one who made the file, and now it became my problem. I shut my eyes tightly as a thought struck me.

"Jasper, do you know when the person started looking for the file?" he was silent for a moment and I heard a few clicking sounds.

"About three days ago." I bit my lip in anger. Three days ago was when I first spoke to J. It was too much of a coincidence.

"Fucking hell." J now knew about my past, or at least the parts that involved the mafia. I would have, at this moment, preferred him to have found out about Wammys.

It was bad enough that L, never mind the countless surviving mafia members, knew about what went on in the earlier days but now someone else I was working with knew as well. It was humiliating.

"So what do you plan on doing about this." I sighed.

"Forget it for the moment; I have a feeling that it was J. However I have something else I have for you to do now that I think of it." if this information had proved to be true, then the one about someone asking about me and Wammys was also probably true.

"I need you to see who has been asking about me, anyone and everyone since the start of this case."

"Did something happen?" Jasper immediately replied. I smiled softly; he worried too much for someone who was just supposed to be a mere contact.

"Not yet, but it could if you don't get your ass on this pronto." he grunted something and hung up on me. I stared incredulously at the phone for several moments before closing it.

"When this is over that bastard is going to get an earful for that." shaking my head, and strangely feeling calmer, I headed over to my laptop. If J could investigate me, then I could investigate him as well. But I wouldn't use Jasper for this, no.

Someone owed me a favor and it was time to cash it in.

After sending my request to him, I began to write my e-mail to L. Just because I never accepted help from him didn't mean I couldn't contact him. With my slightly rude letter to L complete, and sent, I leaned back into the couch with a yawn. It wasn't even that late into the afternoon and I was already tired.

"Dealing with all of this shit at once is making me exhausted..." I murmured as I shut my eyes. Just for a moment, I told myself.

The beeping from my laptop woke me some hours later when the sky was dark and my apartment filled with shadows. Groaning I sat up and clicked the mouse. The screen lit up with a blinking 'you've got mail' sign. Rolling my eyes I opened it.

"All this for an e-mail..."

Upon seeing who it was from my expression darkened.

_'Dear Mello,_

_I never expected for you to ask me for help, regardless if I owed you something or not, so it must be something important to you despite what your email has stated._

I growled lowly at the screen and glared as though he could actually see it. "Condescending little bastard!" I swore.

_I have begun working on your request and should have something for you in a few days._

_-N-'_

Quickly deleting the email, as though it were an infectious virus, I grabbed a cushion off the couch and hurled it across the room.

"Damn him!" when dealing with him he never ceased to irritate me and bring out my anger. As though sensing my rising anger another email popped up. It was from L. This one left a decidingly bitter taste in my mouth.

"Sorry for creating a problem for you my ass." I shook my head at the email.

"There wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't decided to document all of my fuckups!" I spat while slamming the laptop shut. If it weren't for the fact that I needed to be sober tomorrow, and for the rest of the night in case something came up, I would have probably just drowned my anger in liquor like I had been taught to in the mafia. Because when you are angry and drunk you make a better fuck. Or so I've been told.

And as they say, old habits die hard.

With an irritated groan I left the comfort of the couch and began to pace the room, I was wound up and didn't have an outlet for it. My mind immediately supplied me with a solution.

My stomach clenched painfully and I ran to the bathroom and threw up what little else had been in my system. The feeling of hands groping and touching me, fingers roughly sliding across my skin, made me gag painfully though nothing else came up.

Shaking pathetically I sat on the cold tile floor, white faced and clammy skinned. I clutched desperately at the rosary that hung from my neck. I couldn't believe I had even thought of doing that again. And for reasons other than information. I wouldn't have even gotten anything out of it...

I was truly starting to lose it. This case was going to destroy what was left of my sanity.

I curled my legs up to my chest and sat with my head hidden in my arms. I stayed there for the rest of the night with not even chocolate to keep me company, only my guilt and memories that would never fade, not even if I had forever.

I woke sometime before dawn to the sound of music.

_'Dirty little lady with the pretty pink thong, Every sugar daddy hittin on her all night long'_ I grimaced at the familiar tone. It was mocking me after my thoughts from last night.

"I really should change that damn ringtone of his... " I had only put 'Something in Your Mouth' as the ringtone because of the irony. I managed not to hear the next phrase as I stood on shaky legs and stumbled from the bathroom towards my cell phone.

_'you naughty thing-' _I flipped open the phone.

"Yes?" I managed to sound normal though I'm not sure how.

"Ah, Mike. I wasn't sure if you would be up at the moment, but I'm glad that you are." I rolled my eyes. Of course he was.

"I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done, my clients tell me that your skills haven't rusted in the least." I forced myself to think of anything but the bile rising in my throat.

"Good to hear." I managed to choke out. If Takahashi noted the difference in my voice he made no mention of it.

"This ends our transaction; however anytime you need information you know you can call me. The price will always be the same." he said in a way where I could tell he was smirking.

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." I told him. "If you'll excuse me I have to get back to work."

He laughed.

"Entertaining are you?" I closed my eyes and my hands shook.

"Something like that." I ground out.

"Alright, have a good day Mike. Goodbye." I ended the call and took a deep breath and managed to set the phone on the counter before sinking my fist into the wall.

"Arg!" I hung my head and let my hair fall into my eyes and dangle before me; teeth bared in anger. Was I ever going to get _away_ from this?

I smashed my fist into the wall a few more times, my hand going through once, before the anger had melted away and the sick feeling had quietened down. I pulled my fist away from the wall and surveyed the damage.

The wall had a new hole and the edges were tinged red. Glancing down I noted how my knuckles were dripping blood onto the carpet but decided that I really didn't care all that much. I needed coffee, because eating anything at the moment was just a bad idea.

Quickly taking a shower, changing, and grabbing my phone and keys I left the apartment but decided to walk to the coffee shop rather than drive.

I wasn't in the right state of mind to multitask at the moment. Thankfully the woman from the other day wasn't there and I received my order without any poor seduction attempts.

Leaving the sweet smelling shop I carefully sipped at the chocolate flavored coffee. The air was cool, yet not unbearably so.

The sky was clouded over with gray and the sun was absent; hidden behind the smog. Putting the brew under my nose I breathed in deeply and let the aroma calm my nerves. Walking down a few more streets I stopped abruptly, just short of the opening to an alley, and leaned my back against cold discolored brick; one leg was propped up on the wall while the other kept my balance.

With my hood pulled down around my face and my posture being what it was, everyone sidestepped me by a few feet and I was left to zone out for a little while.

By the time the coffee was finished my hands were numb, due to the fact I had forgotten to replace my gloves before I left, and the knuckles on my left hand stung furiously. Blood had cooled and dried to the raw skin and cracked with every movement my fingers made_. _

_'You'll never get to heaven if you're scared of getting high'_ my pocket vibrated and the lyrics to a song Jasper had set for texting went off. Rolling my eyes skyward I pulled out the phone and flipped through my messages until I go to the most recent text.

_-Mello, there has been another murder, multiple actually. Friend saw bodies before police, there something u want to tell me? - Jasper_

"More than one?" I whispered, my calm already fading into the background. "And why the hell didn't he just call me?!" I snarled and ignored the weary looks I received.

_-Why didn't you call, Bodies where, and what do you mean?- _

There was no need to add names like Jasper did, it was unnecessary and cost more than I was willing to pay for a few extra letters.

_-Didn't want u to hang up. 115 Marshal Ave, about 20 minutes west of your apartment. And I think you know what I mean 'detective M'- jasper- _

My eyes widened, detective? The killer had left something again, something for me. "Shit!" I cursed loudly. Well this certainly created more problems for me, especially if J found out.

_-Are police there yet?-_ I sent it out and his response came almost immediately.

_-Yes.-_

_-Have they seen 'that' yet?-_ I typed quickly and sent the text. Whatever the killer left wouldn't be good, and would probably raise questions about me with the police.

_-Not yet.-_ I breathed a small sigh of relief.

_-Then get it out of there!-_

I could practically see Jasper's expression to that, somewhere between _'are you fucking kidding me?' _and _'the pay better be worth it_'. No sooner had I closed my phone it rang.

"Yes?" I answered tiredly, the coffee high not kicking in quite yet.

"There have been more murders. Three more bodies were just found." the cold detached voice of J stated through the speaker.

"I already know." there was a small pause before the voice spoke curiously; as curiously as the distortion would allow.

"And yet you didn't feel the need to inform me?"

I snorted. "I haven't known for more than a few minutes at best, and as if you could possibly be left out of the loop." there was a small laugh but it came out creepy with the distorter.

"The two from yesterday are on their way to the crime scene; get there as soon as you can."

I snorted. "It wont take me long, it's only twenty minutes from my apartment and I am already out." as I spoke those words it dawned on me. The victims were getting closer and closer to where I lived. The last one had been around forty minutes, give or take a few, these new ones just twenty.

I doubted it was coincidence if what Jasper told me was true and the killer had left something else for me. If this was still about L, then this person knew far more about Wammys than I had given him credit for.

He knew about L's successors.

If he had been able to somehow hack into Wammys files, or at least obtain them somehow, it wouldn't be hard to figure out who would be easiest to get to first. Near was working with L, and not even I knew where they were at the moment, and Matt had practically disappeared off the face of the planet.

That left me, who was a private detective, out in the open and an easy target. Apparently Dom had been right when he said I should move.

"That's interesting..." I narrowed my eyes at J's statement. If I had figured that out, then J would have also. Though I doubt even he could guess the significance of it without the, now two, missing pieces of evidence to point to me.

Or at least it had better be two, J could never lay eyes on whatever the killer had left for me this time, or the video I had on my computer.

"What's interesting?" I made my tone curious.

"Oh, nothing. I suppose Emerson and Miranda will see you soon." and with that the connection was cut and the call ended with beeping.

"Damn it!" I cursed myself for my own stupidity.

"This is why you were only second!" but the moment I said that I stopped and had to laugh.

"Actually, I'm third..." with a sad smile I thought of my red haired friend.

"When this case is over, I swear I'll find you Matt and make everything up to you if I can!" my fists clenched painfully but I ignored it.

Dumping the empty coffee container into the trash I walked to the curb and hailed a taxi. I didn't have time to go back and get my bike now.

"Take me to 115 Marshal Ave." I told the driver as I closed the door beside me. I didn't bother with things like 'and step on it' since all it usually did was piss the driver off. The ride was blissfully silent, devoid of all phone calls and dangerous thoughts.

The drive took just over twenty minutes; there had been a traffic accident that had slowed us down by a few minutes. I paid the driver and exited in front of a set of grand looking apartments, amusing that they were so close to the crappier parts of town.

I swore as my phone vibrated to let me know I had another text.

_-Got 'that' out safely, police never saw. You owe me.- Jasper-_

I sneered at the message but supposed he was right. I wouldn't have even known about it if it hadn't been for his friend. I quickly sent a text telling him to 'fuck off' and that he would get his money after the case.

Turning the phone off I was able to get through the tape just by telling them 'Detective Michael Keen' was there. Apparently Miranda and Emerson were already there.

"Thank god for informants...." I muttered as I took the elevator up to the sixth floor, nice choice for the sixth victim. Well the sixth, seventh and eighth apparently. Stepping out of the elevator I suddenly became dizzy and had to hold onto the wall for support.

It was the effect of having coffee in my system without having any food in it for the past few days. Jasper was correct in the fact that chocolate does not really count as food.

Shaking my head and pushing myself away from the wall I forced my body to obey me.

As I opened the door the police were still taking pictures and the flashes of cameras momentarily distracted me. Blinking my eyes I focused in on the red carpet only to realize moments later that the carpet had originally been a pale blue, as the part I was standing on now was that same color.

The red, was blood.

_**-**_**End **_**Deception-**_

**AN 2010: **And we have the start of some new things, just barely noticeable. Three victims instead of one. W00t?

**AN:** Kinda a cliffy, oh well.....

And, I'm sorry but I just had to put in the chocolate flavored coffee, but seriously I LOVE chocolate coffee! It's my two favs mixed, hahah.

Don't forget about the poll on my profile, and to review. :)

**Special thanks to last chapter reviwers:** Living in a fantasy, ThMostPatheticNameEver, MayKitty, Mia-Gabriella, Sightlines


	9. Chapter 8: Madness

**Disclaimer**: Nope still don't own Death Note....... damn you....

**AN 2010:** I'm actually editing this on the night before my night training. I'm trying to use this to stay up to 7am. Its only 10pm and I'm already tired. Craaaaap.

**Suggested Listening:** 'Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~' **By** Flumpool

**Chapter Eight:** Madness

_~Matt~_

I stared at the screen unblinkingly, unwilling to read any further until my thoughts had stopped racing. Mello had joined the mafia. Mello had been used as a _sex_ toy for the mafia. My mouth was dry and I found it painfully hard to swallow.

Mello,_ my_ Mello, had lost his virginity to someone twice, maybe even three times, his age for_ information _and _status_? What the hell was he looking for so badly, or what did he need, that he was willing to give away _everything_? I frowned at the thought of someone touching him. Someone other than me.

Running a hand through my hair I took a shaky breath. I had long since figured out that I was in love with the temperamental blonde, I may have been young when I realized it but he had been the only one who cared to be in my life, until I had screwed up.

And this, this file, was filled with things that he had wanted to keep hidden. It would not have been so hard to get a hold of otherwise. Though I had been surprised that L himself didn't have it locked away more safely.

"Mello..."

My fingers hovered over the mouse for a long moment before clenching and eventually grasping the mouse. Scrolling down I continued to read. I knew that with every paragraph things would only get worse, could only get worse, and yet I had to know.

I needed to know what he had gone through, how he had gotten that scar, how he had gotten that cold look in his beautiful eyes.

Mello had been _used_ by the mafia for many things. Gathering information, used as blackmail material, as _payment_, and as a whore; and that was for more than four years. Four fucking years. How in the hell had he withstood that?

My eyes narrowed at some of the things the men had done to him during sex, what was documented at any rate. What gave them the right to do that? Closing my eyes I had to force myself to keep calm, to pretend that this was just for another case which meant nothing to me.

It was near impossible to do.

One thing that was written down was that he had never taken a lover or had a girlfriend, and never got off during any of those situations. Though it would have been a natural reaction if he had.

This was just after five of the documents, I was hesitant to look at any more. I decided to skip to the very last one; it ended up being the most informative. Whoever had written this part was very close to Mello, knew everything about him and his past, and it made me uneasy and if I felt like admitting it, a little jealous.

_'-His body and mind have finally given way under all of the stress and abuse it was put through. Honestly I am not surprised. He hasn't eaten anything in almost two weeks, and that includes chocolate. He had been staying awake and filling his hunger with coffee and water. _

_Even the smell of food had made him sick, he was in the worst state I had ever seen him in. I have wanted to help him, however he is forever stubborn._

_-He has grown weak and has been less and less like himself these past few days, it was only a mater of time before he broke.'_

This person, narrator, infuriated me. If they knew he was having such trouble they should have done something, Mello's stubbornness be damned.

_'-I found him passed out on the floor barely breathing. There was no choice but to do something then. I got him private care, and when he was well enough, gave him an ultimatum. _

_Quite the mafia lifestyle, or be left out of succession and the resources that came with it. I will admit to being a little surprised to learn that he held something far more dear to him that the title of L.'_

My eyes widened. L had written this?

_'-In the end I was able to get him to promise, as a friend if nothing else, two things. One being that he would never use his body to gain information again, and the second; that he would never kill again for the same reason.'_

I closed out the document and quickly pulled up one of the ones I had skipped over. I scanned the words quickly until I found what I had been looking for. He had indeed killed for the mafia. I had been a fool to think otherwise.

If it hadn't been the abuse of his body, then it was this that had hardened his eyes. In the same file I found an attachment that lead to a case that he had been ordered to take because of the mafia.

Apparently there had been a serial arsonist that was killing mafia members as well as destroying thousands of dollars worth of _goods_.

Mello had solved the case, but at a terrible cost. There had been a traitor, a rat, inside the mafia and they hadn't liked how close Mello was getting to them. So they torched his place while he slept. He barely made it out alive. He was given burns down the left side of his face, shoulder and back.

They all scarred.

I closed all the files and sat back in my chair. I had finally found out what he had been up to and god how I almost wished I hadn't. My stomach growled but I ignored it. I didn't even want to think about food-

"Food?" I questioned silently. Something about that struck a chord with me. My eyes widened. Mello never ate anything while he was here, and got sick when Miranda was waving around her sandwich.

Did that mean he had broken his promise to L and was selling himself for information again?! The thought horrified me, and yet at the same time I wasn't surprised since Wammys was on the line in this case.

I found myself feeling uneasy, sick even, and wished for the first time in a long time that I was wrong.

"Hey J." a deep voice purred in my ear. I shivered. I pushed the hand that was sliding across my abdomen to the side and stood up.

"Not tonight." I stated dryly. There was _no way_ in hell I was doing anything of the sort for quite awhile, not after what I had just read. The man before me cocked his head to the side.

"Something wrong? You're usually raring to go." I cringed at his voice. It made me sound like some cheap whore, and I wondered if that was what Mello felt like every time, only his wasn't done for recreation or boredom.

"This case... is complicated."

"Something is actually stumping you? Must be hard then, especially if you wont accept_ help_." his tone was suggestive, as though subtly asking if I wanted to have a go and retract my earlier words, but he made no more moves on me.

"No, I'm not necessarily stressed... its something else." the man nodded and backed out of the room with a curious look on his face.

Rubbing at my face I sighed heavily. This was certainly going to get back to Miranda, and even though she never approved of my lifestyle she knew I needed it for stress release, among other things.

The fact that I was pushing aside sex would bother her, but I didn't want her to know about Mello. It was his business and too many people already knew. So the only options were to either avoid her indefinitely or lie.

The only problem with the latter was that she always knew when I was lying to her. This was going to be a long case.

Deciding it was just easier to sleep than think, I made my way to the messy bed. Shaking my head at the piles of stuff on the bedspread I mercilessly shoved it all to the floor. I heard glass break; apparently I had something breakable on the bed. Where I sometimes slept. Wasn't that a comforting thought?

Rolling onto my stomach I curled my arms around a pillow and buried my face into the soft red fabric. I feel asleep quickly and would have stayed asleep if it hadn't been for a slight inconvenience.

_*Buzzzz* *Buzzzz* *Buzzzz*_

I groaned into the pillow as my pocket vibrated. Reaching behind me I took the phone out from my back pocket and answered it without much enthusiasm.

"Yeah?" I mumbled.

"J, stop being such a grouch. There has been another murder, go look at your e-mail for the details." I was hung up on so I shut the top and tossed the red phone across the bed and rolled over with a sigh.

"The one time I actually go to sleep willingly this bastard has to murder someone?" I huffed to myself. Seating myself once again in front of the computer I logged into my e-mail quickly and opened the file that had been sent to me.

There wasn't much to the e-mail itself, just a few preliminary things noted by police. As well as the victims name and address, as well as estimated time of deaths for the three of them. Yes three.

"J open the fucking door you've been in there forever!" Miranda's loud voice and harsh knocking filtered through the door. I wanted to bang my head on the table.

"The door is unlocked." I sighed. Never a moment's peace in this shit hole.

Upon seeing the state of the room, as well as the rumpled bed covers she stared at me open mouthed.

"W-were you sleeping?" she stumbled over her words.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, and its something you can do too."

She reached over and smacked me in the back of the head. "You ass, when Ben came and told me you refused sex I was worried! But if you were sleeping why are you on the laptop now?"

I was fortunate that my sleeping habit derailed her usual questions for the moment.

"There have been three more murders, just reported a few minutes ago. All at the same place of residence." a sour look crossed her face and her lips pulled back into a frown.

"Three? That makes eight..." wishing I hadn't left my phone on the bed I looked over to Miranda and then pointed to the small red object. She shook her head in exasperation but retrieved it for me. Scrolling down I hesitantly dialed a number I had just recently memorized.

"Yes?" his voice sounded tired; exhausted even.

"There have been more murders. Three more bodies were just found."

"I already know." how did he know? It shouldn't have been announced yet.

"And you didn't feel the need to inform me?" I asked curiously.

"I haven't known for more than a few minutes at best, and as if you could possibly be left out of the loop." I laughed into the phone at his tone.

"The two from yesterday are on their way to the crime scene; get there as soon as you can."

He snorted. "It won't take me long, it's only twenty minutes from my apartment and I am already out." my eyes narrowed. Something about that seemed odd.... wait. The victims seemed to be getting closer to where he lived, there must be something more to this that we aren't yet seeing.

"That's interesting." I murmured softly.

"What's interesting?" his voiced suggested that he was curious but the pause before he asked told me otherwise. He was guarded. Did he know something and was holding back, but for what aim? It was the third time this case I had doubts about what he knew and didn't know.

"Oh, nothing. I suppose Emerson and Miranda will see you soon." and with that I snapped the phone shut effectively ending the call.

"We have to leave now if we want to get there before him." I heaved myself out of the chair and stretched my sleep ridden muscles.

"J, I expect to continue our discussion later." the red head in front of me said seriously. "No." her eyes widened in surprise.

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean no, you don't need to know everything about my work and I will not discuss anything more on the matter." she glared at me but conceded for the moment, though I had no delusions that she would back down from this.

In this aspect she was almost as damn stubborn as Mello. And perhaps that's why I enjoyed her company, because she reminded me so much of what was left behind in my youth. Not that I was old per say, but seven years is a long time...

We headed out of the apartment and into my beat up Camaro. The ride to the crime scene was quiet, Miranda was still angry at me but I didn't miss the idle chatter. Once there we left my car around the corner and walked to the police tape where I showed my credentials as well as alerting them to Mello's arrival through using his alias.

The sixth victim lived on the sixth floor. How poetic. I wondered if that was the only thing dealing with numbers at the scene but as we entered the apartment I doubted it. It did make me wonder about the other two victims. Had they been planned or just extra casualties?

The floor upon first glance was a deep red, but if one paid any attention to the small area in front of the door the floor was actually blue.

"Is that...?" Miranda gasped and pointed to the carpet. I nodded and she clamped a hand across her mouth and I could see her gag. Leaving her at the entrance I stepped further into the carnage and was mildly repulsed by the fact that the carpet actually _squished_ as I walked on it.

The first body was devoid of most, if not all, of its blood by use of six holes cut into it near main arteries. However, they weren't just holes, they were shaped as sixes. The actual hole being the main part and a small curved cut to complete each one.

The body was stripped naked and lay face up with the eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Miranda cringed and kept her hand by her mouth as she stood beside me. The victim had light blue eyes and straw colored hair. Eerily similar to Mello's blue eyes and blond hair. She was also missing six fingers.

The second body, lying across from the sixth victim, was a male who was fully clothed. Sandy blonde hair and dark eyes that stared up accusingly at the ceiling. He had eight, what looked like kitchen knives, sticking out of his chest.

The last body, the seventh victim, was lying on their front shielding their face from me.

I couldn't immediately see what the cause of death was until I looked more closely at the skull, which was effectively bashed in. I would bet anything that it had been seven times. Her torso was bare but everything save for shoes was left on.

Three bodies, all varied stages of dress, lying in a grotesque pinwheel shape. How lovely.

I heard the door creek open and turned to see Mello standing pale faced in the doorway. However I didn't think it had anything to do with the crime scene. He took in the scene silently and when it clicked that the carpet was actually blue his eyes widened.

With nothing more than a weary sigh he stepped quickly onto the stained carpet; he was far calmer than Miranda had been. He had probably seen worse in the mafia than this.

"It looks like the killer took a melon baller to her." he commented dryly while surveying the sixth victims body like one would road kill. He barely glanced at the other two.

"That's horrible." Miranda gasped. She may be good at observation, but perhaps not so much while looking at an actual body.

"Going with the previous themes, where is the letter? Or will it be letters?"

"I suppose one of the police officers has it." I shrugged a shoulder; it wasn't as if we really needed the letters anymore. We already knew that there what the letters left would spell, and there were never any helpful clues attached with them.

"I'll go look for it." Miranda volunteered and I knew that it was just a ploy to get away from the bodies.

"There is something different about this one. It's far more violent." Mello commented as he knelt by the sixth victim. He was right, while the other murders had not by any means been _nice_; this one was by far the worst.

"Though the last one wasn't all that pleasant for the deceased either." Mello _hmm'_ed in agreement.

"Here are the letters, but the police think that this used to be attached to something." she held up a large blue piece of paper with a large red 'A' in the center as well as an 'O' off to the side and an 'S' in the corner; turned over there was a small tear in the back, with what looked like a piece of tape stuck to it.

"Something else? But if that is true, then where is it?" I murmured. I glanced towards Mello but he didn't seem to know anything.

"A few more letters and then we either get to the final showdown or this person disappears." Mello said with a tired sigh. His face was still pale and there were slight shadows under his eyes. Whatever he was doing for this case it was taking its toll on him.

The ringing of his cell phone startled him; his hand lightly shaking around the small object. He held up his hand and moved just out of hearing. As he spoke with the person on the other line his expression became blank, not showing anything. He had unconsciously moved closer during his short pacing cycle.

"Got it. I'll be over there soon." my heart ached at those words. I hoped he didn't mean it as it sounded....

"Sorry about that." Mello told us but offered no further information.

I nodded and turned back to the body lying directly at our feet. There was still something that struck me as wrong with the scene, though I couldn't figure out what. It was more than the potential missing evidence, it was something more.

It _bothered _me.

Mello was fidgeting in his spot next to me and I sighed inwardly. He was going to be useless unless he took care of whatever business it was that awaited him. It was then that I noticed something.

"Michael why don't you go see if you can find any connections between the escalating brutality of the murders, Miranda and I are almost done here anyway." Mello eyed me speculatively for a minute before he nodded and turned on heel before exiting the apartment.

"Why did you do that? We have hardly been here for twenty minutes!" Miranda scolded me. I ignored her in favor of getting the attention of a police officer.

"Excuse me, but I need your help in turning the bodies over." the brown eyed man's eyes widened.

"Why would we do that?" I refrained from shaking my head irritably, honestly was it really so hard to find intelligent people.

"Because that was the body's original position, meaning someone was here before any of us. Someone other than the killer." the officer appeared shocked. And this is why nothing ever gets solved, I thought to myself.

After putting on a pair of latex gloves we rolled the sixth victims body over onto its stomach; Miranda gasped. While the back was covered in smears of blood it was still obvious that it had only recently been turned over.

However the most startling feature was the word etched into the victim's skin. _Detective_.

"Detective?" the police officer asked, confused.

"The killer obviously has their eyes set on someone." I said calmly. "Help me turn over the other female." I told the police officer who merely nodded and we shifted the body to its back.

"How did you even know to turn the body over?" Miranda asked.

"Simple. The blood on her face, arms and legs was still wet, and if she had been killed and left face up the blood would have dried and turned a shade or two darker." it really was simple, and I was ashamed that I hadn't noticed it earlier.

"Then why have Michael leave if you were going to do this." I shook my head as I knew the police officer was still listening.

"Later." was all I said on the matter.

"M? What does that refer to?" the officer asked as we finished rolling the seventh victims body onto her back. There was a large gothic shaped 'M' that spanned across the victims breasts.

I was lucky that the officer hadn't connected the 'M' with 'Michael', though I believed it stood for 'Mello'. Just what the hell was going on?

"See if you can find any other clues before we head back." I told Miranda as I headed off towards the bookshelf, though I doubted anything would be left in the same spot twice.

Around a half hour later we left the apartment with nothing new. The moment we sat in the car Miranda was asking questions.

"So spill, why leave Mello out of this?" I rubbed a hand over my eyes.

"After he talked on the phone he was distracted and less likely to be of any further help until he has sorted out whatever business he has." though there was more to it than that.

I had a rather bad feeling that this entire case had something to do with him; not that he was in any way involved with the killings but something else. How could it not with the message left on the bodies?

I hadn't a clue of what, but there was _something _I was missing.

The drive was once again silent, both of us caught up in our own thoughts. Though I doubted they were even remotely close in content. Mello you idiot, just what the hell are you caught up in?

Stepping into the apartment was like walking into the twilight zone. While loud music still blared through the speakers, and a person or two still danced; it was, in a way, quiet. Miranda furled her eyebrows at the scene; she too noticing the odd atmosphere.

"Things just keep getting weird around here." she muttered before heading off into the kitchen.

I however, decided to look over the crime scene photos once more. Though I had asked Mello to do something similar I figured it couldn't hurt to have two sets of eyes on the same things. It wasn't like any of us really had anything to go on and the end was drawing near.

In a few short days the final murders would happen if we didn't stop it. And only the killer knew what would happen next if he wasn't caught. The only thing I did know was that it probably wasn't going to be good for Wammys.

And maybe it was a mistake not to get L involved with this, but in the end he was the one who either didn't care or didn't pay enough attention to get involved in the first place. Though I doubted it was the former.

I'm not sure how long I was at the computer before the sound of heavy boots on the floor made me look up at the door. The unlocked door swung open and Mello sauntered inside and forcefully closed it before looking at me with a strange expression hidden in the depths of his eyes.

"Did you find anything?" his eyes flashed for a second but he shook his head.

"Nothing that we didn't already know. He started calmly and with each murder the violence increased; though he took a nose dive with the last ones." it was pretty much what I had noticed as well.

He took a bar of chocolate out of his coat, pulled back the wrapper, and tore off a piece with a loud _snap_. He flopped down beside me on the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table. It was a feeling of déjà vu for me.

It almost felt like we were back at Wammys.

_Almost_.

Glancing to my left I noted how dark it had gotten; I had been going through all the data for some odd hours if it was already night.

"We're losing." Mello stated simply. And all I could do was nod my head. For all our genius, we _were_ losing.

"I'm getting coffee; I expect it to be a long night." I got up from the couch and winced at my stiff muscles before heading into the kitchen. Looking through the cupboards I discovered a few packets of instant coffee and a pound of some exotic brew. I went with the instant.

Sticking a cup of water in the microwave I set it on two minutes.

"You call that coffee?" Mello said with a raised eyebrow; he had followed me.

"It's better than whatever bagged stuff Miranda bought. I probably can't even pronounce it." he chuckled and leaned against the counter opposite me.

_'My cock is much bigger than yours, my cock can walk right through the door-'_ my eyes widened.

Mello looked at me with a wicked grin on his face before pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket. It didn't seem to be an actual call, rather a text message instead. The grin instantly slipped from his lips and he became expressionless.

I watched as his long fingers clenched tightly around the phone. That was when the kitchen door opened.

"Matt- oh!" Miranda stood frozen as she said that, knowing her slip up was something huge when she saw Mello.

Mello, who had just finished reading whatever was on his phone suddenly looked up at me and not Miranda as I would have expected of him. His eyes were searching before they widened.

"Jesus Christ." the look on his face said it all. I swallowed, this was one confrontation I never had wanted to happen..

**-End **_**Madness**_**-**

**AN 2010: **So we finally have some new content, not much but if you note things flow better and there aren't any plot holes anymore...... ell at least note the ones I noticed. *sweatdrop*

And if anyone was wondering what Mello's ringtone was: 'Cigaro' by System Of A Down (this song _amuses _me to no end ^_^)

**Special thanks to last chapter reviewers: **Jamie, TheMostPatheticNameEver, Mia-Gabriella, MayKitty, lolita376, Living in a fantasy, Sightlines **(omg I love you all, 43 reviews!)**

Review!


	10. Chapter 9: Duality

**Disclaimer: ***looks* NO, still don't own anything. Not even the damn song lyrics in here!

**AN:** Ohhhhhhhh I'm so excited about this chapter! Though it is shorter than the previous ones. Much..... Starts off when Mello left the crime scene.

Oh, by the way. I've had a few comments on the songs I suggest to everyone, they are from the playlist I listen to while writing each chapter, thus the songs I listen to on repeat for a certain chap go on here. I may even put the playlist up for everyone to listen to. Idk.

**Suggested Listening:** 'We Sleep Forever' **by** Aiden**; '**A Rush of Blood to the Head'** by** Coldplay

**Chapter Nine:** _Duality _

_~Mello~ _

I left the apartment and had to call a cab again, I wasn't walking all the way to Jasper's. Normally I wouldn't even have the home address of one of my contacts but Jasper was closer to a friend in some ways. As close as I cared to let anyone get.

His phone call couldn't have come at a worse time, though with the way it sounded I was going to need the extra time away from J and his lackeys. If Jasper was worried it was never a good sign.

The trip took just over a half hour.

Like myself, Jasper didn't exactly live in the best of neighborhoods, though neither of us could really afford to go to something ritzier. Mainly we didn't because of our lines of work; rick folk were nosy fuckers.

I knocked on the door and waited until I heard the deadbolt slide free before I opened the door. "So what is so important that I had to be dragged away from the crime scene?" I muttered and followed him to his kitchen.

"This." he pointed to an unassuming white box on the table that was missing its lid. A few things were scattered across the table but I paid them no mind. The lid which was propped up against one side of the box had a printed message on it.

'_Detective ~M~_'

That definitely would have landed me in some hot water concerning the police and J. Glancing away from the lid I peered into the box and did a double take. Inside the box was a bag of _fingers_.

"You see why you needed to get here?" Jasper asked quietly. They had to be the latest victims as I didn't remember any of the other victims missing any.

From what I could see, each finger was numbered, one through six. I shook my head. This guy was seriously messed up in the head. I then turned my attention to the things scattered on the table.

Things that should _not _have been there.

They were pictures of the crime scene, pictures that not even the police would have. Because in those pictures, the victims were still alive. One showed the sixth victim clutching a bloody hand; the one that had all but the thumb cut off. Another showed her laying face down on the floor. I looked up.

"Did your friend move any of the bodies?" I questioned. Jasper nodded. "Why!? J will certainly notice if his two proxies' don't."

"Look at the next two photos." I did as suggested and the next one was a close up of her back.

"Detective." I whispered. "M..." My heart thudded painfully in my chest. When they did the autopsy, or maybe even sooner, J would certainly see this. He _would_ figure out that the message wasn't for him.

Glancing at the next photo my blood ran cold. I picked up the photo and held it close to my face as though the image might change.

"How the hell did he get this?!" I snarled. I was holding my own fucking picture, a picture that I had stupidly left at Wammys. Jasper shrugged his shoulders with a grim look set into his features. It was bad when I thought he was able to hack into Wammys but it was worse if he could somehow get _into _it.

It was the only option as no one there would have given an outsider something like this. They wouldn't have even made it to the front door.

I ran a hand through my hair and sat down.

"Are you going to tell J?" I looked up sharply at Jasper.

"No." my eyes were narrowed and cold; Jasper turned away from my gaze and sat across from me at the table.

"This makes no difference now, there are only three victims left and J learning about my involvement won't do any good." It wouldn't do any good but it might be nice if more than one other person knew what was going on.

This was just turning out to be one shitty year. Broken promises, lies, sex, murder, eating disorder... At least I'm not doing drugs, I thought to myself. I snorted and pushed myself away from the table.

"I have some things to do, you mind if I use your computer?" Jasper shook his head and I headed into the living room where I had spotted a laptop on my way in earlier.

"I'm going to make some coffee, you want any?"

"As long as it's not that instant shit or those pods...." I heard stifled laughter and frowned.

What was wrong with liking _actual_ coffee?

Deciding that anything he did to irritate or piss me off would be coming out of his pay, I ignored Jasper. Instead I got to work on what Emerson had suggested to me; J had probably said something to him beforehand.

"Here's your coffee." Jasper announced to me a few minutes later.

Glancing at the cup I smirked. We had known each other, and worked together, for so long he even knew how I liked my coffee. Black with chocolate. Swirling the spoon around I pulled it out and licked off the chocolaty residue before letting it drop back down into the cup. Taking a sip I sighed softly before going back to work.

"Shouldn't you be meeting up with J's people soon?" Jasper asked me some time later. Glancing at the computer's digital clock I noted how much time had passed.

"I suppose, it's not like I really learned anything new."

"Nothing that you would care to share with them at any rate." I flipped Jasper off before deleting all my previous work and exiting my e-mail. Leaving the laptop on stand by I vacated the plush chair and headed for the door.

"Wait a second and I'll give you a ride." I gave him a look that clearly said _why_.

"You're not exactly made of money; you can't afford to be taking a taxi everywhere." I smirked, he had me there. I had just used my grocery money with the last two taxis. Not that it mattered much this week...

"Whatever." I shrugged but halted my movements and waited for him to grab his keys and a jacket, because it was fucking cold out, before following him out the door. His car was an old sports car but it wasn't bullet ridden like Emerson's was.

The night was freezing and the winds had picked up moving through layers of clothing like they weren't even there. I forced myself not to shake as we sat in his car, heater on full blast, with the radio on to the weather.

"Snow? Oh that's wonderful!" Jasper yelled sarcastically and smacked the dashboard. And snow would lower the temperature even further.

He pulled up right in front and I grunted a goodbye as I shoved the door open and stepped out into the cold. I hurried into the smelly building and up the required amount of stairs before getting to the correct door.

The door was usually unlocked so I just turned the knob and walked right in like I owned the place. Emerson was sitting on the couch directly in front of me and it reminded me of the first time I had seen him...

"Did you find anything?" he asked in a slightly bored manor. My mind instantly flashed to that small white box before I dismissed it completely.

"Nothing that we didn't already know. He started calmly and with each murder the violence increased; though he took a nose dive with the last one."

I suddenly had a craving for chocolate and rescued the one from my inside coat pocket. Pealing back the wrapper I sank my teeth into the cold confection and was satisfied with the loud _snap_ that overcame even the blaring music.

I walked over to the couch and sat down beside Emerson; I propped my feet up on the coffee table and continued to devour my treat.

I was silent for a moment before I voiced my thoughts.

"We're losing." Emerson looked at me but nodded. For people so smart we were fucking this up grandly.

"I'm getting coffee; I expect it to be a long night." he stated as he got up and left the room. I watched him disappear into the kitchen but then decided to follow. He was searching through the cabinets for coffee but upon seeing his choices took the instant coffee. He filled a cup with water and stuck it in the microwave.

"You call that coffee?" I raised an eyebrow. How could people actually drink that _mud_ was beyond me. "It's better than that bagged stuff Miranda bought. I probably can't even pronounce it." I laughed and leaned against the opposite counter.

_'My cock is much bigger than yours, my cock can walk right through the door-'_ I gave Emerson a wicked grin as his eyes widened in surprise at my texting ringtone. The tone was specifically set for Near.

The grin slipped from my lips and I stared at the words on the tiny screen before me. It had to be some sort of sick joke....

"Matt- oh!" I barely registered the sound of shock in Miranda's voice as she said that. The phone was clenched tightly in my fingers; the lone text message still displayed across the screen.

_-J, is Matt. ~Near_

It was the answer to J's identity that I had been waiting for; but the answer was something I hadn't expected. I took a deep breath and looked up from my phone. Emerson was J. And Matt was supposedly J.

I stared at the man before me for a long moment, searching his features for anything familiar. The hair was the wrong color, as were the eyes, but the more I actually looked at the face, the expression. It was all Matt.

"Jesus Christ." I whispered. It had been staring me in the face this entire time, _Matt_ had been staring me in the face this _entire_ time.

"I'm going to go..." Miranda mumbled and backed awkwardly out of the room and shutting the kitchen door.

"Mello...-" he started to say. If I hadn't already been convinced, that would have done it. Anyone else wouldn't have known that name.

"Don't. Just don't." I cut him off. He had known it was me from the moment I walked through the front door, which was why he had looked shocked as I watched that guy fuck him. He had fucking lied to me again, deceived me purposely. I shut my eyes and shook my head.

"You fucking bastard." I hissed.

"Mello let me explain-"

"Let you explain?!" I exploded.

"Let you explain why you fucking lied to me again? Why you hid your identity from me?" he looked guilty for a moment, his eyes sorrowful.

"You didn't want me in your life, and I didn't want to get hurt again."

"Didn't want you in my life?" I murmured quietly before I completely lost it.

"If I didn't want you in my fucking life I wouldn't have been searching for you ever since _you_ left Wammys!" I screamed at him and threw my cell phone at the wall. His eyes widened.

"Mello ple-"

"I can't deal with this right now. I can't deal with _you_, right now." I shook off his hand and with what felt like tears prickling at my eyes, I practically ran from the apartment.

It felt colder outside than I remembered it being only a few minutes ago. But I did nothing more than wrap my arms around myself and continue on down the deserted street. Not even the hookers and drug dealers were out on such a night.

I was a fool. I had maybe ten bucks in my wallet, no phone and I was walking in pre-snow weather. I felt my cheeks warm before a chilled sensation settled over them.

And apparently I couldn't control my emotions as good as I thought. I wiped angrily at the tears but only succeeded in smearing them across my face.

"Fucking Matt!" I growled. After all these years... and he was with me for a week and I didn't even know!

My leather was cold against my skin and I shivered. Stopping, I looked around to see if there was a coffee shop I could go into or even a pay phone around to call Jasper. There was a slight breeze behind me before I felt cold metal press harshly against my head and I stood completely still. I knew all too well exactly what that was.

"Hello detective." my blood froze in my veins. The man laughed.

"Your posture tells me that you do know who I am." my thoughts whirled, why now of all times? Matt wouldn't even think to look for me and by that time-

"Whatever you are thinking I suggest you stop. You wont be escaping anytime soon." a hand snaked its way in front of me and I tried to disarm him the second I saw the white cloth.

"No, that won't do." with a _bang_ my arm exploded in pain but I ignored it in favor of knocking the smoking gun from his hand; but it still wasn't enough. He forced me to the ground with my wounded arm twisted behind my back.

"Fuck!" I snarled. The hand came back and clamped over my mouth. I can't believe I let my guard down....

The heavy smell of chloroform shot over my senses and I could feel my eyes droop. There was no second chance for me. I was at the end of the line, and I had a sick feeling that I would be dragging Matt down with me.

**-End **_**Duality**_**-**

**AN: **how's that cliffhanger for ya? Hehehe! Well I know the chapter is shorter but I hope the ending made up for it.

Next chapter will be split between Matt and Mello. Enjoy. :)

OK now I am going to shamelessly promote my **new oneshot **called 'Little Smirk', its kind of a MelloMatt. Little Smirk is by Theory of a Deadman and that song is the ONLY reason that oneshot came to life. Seriously awesome song. ~_^

Don't for get the poll on my profile, the mystery fic is still winning and only two more chapters before the poll closes!

**Special thanks to last chapter reviewers**: Living in a fantasy, IndifferenceToSociety, Your Alien, Mia-Gabriella, Misha2011, Sightlines, MayKitty, TheMostPatheticNameEver, Mattie Chan, , Nothing's Sorrow _(holy f**k! I have 54 reviews!__** 54**__! I never even dreamed that any of my fics, never mind this one, would get so many! Thank you all!)_


	11. Chapter 10: Selfless

**Disclaimer: **Sadly still don't own Death Note.... But Miranda AND Jasper are mine..............

**AN:** And so we reach the climax of the story...

Oh, btw, I changed the time line of a few things to make the killer fit... and don't mind his slight ooc'ness. I'll explain later.

(And in case anyone is confused as to how Mello couldn't tell it was Matt, and didn't string together my rather vague references to his appearance, I'll tell you. ^_^ Matt dyed his hair to start with, his hair is also long enough to cover his eyes, thus his mention of it getting too long. Then he has contact lenses, his clothes are way different, and Mello hasn't seen him in over seven years. Mello was still thinking of Matt as wearing stripped shirts, goggles and playing games so he overlooked any similarities in 'Emerson' despite the nagging feeling that he knew him. K?)

**Suggested Listening: **'Your Going Down' **by** Sick Puppies (I think its kinda fits, (; )

**Chapter Ten**: Selfless

_~Matt~_

I stared at the swinging kitchen door and I could just make out Mello's form retreating into the hallway followed by a loud bang as the door swung shut behind him. I allowed myself to slide down to the floor.

Mello had been looking for me? Since I left Wammys? Not since he left, but since _I _left? I swallowed. If he didn't care then he would have just ignored me, but to look for me...?

My fingers pulled at my hair in frustration. All of this might have been avoided if I had just stayed a few more days... and now he was just as angry as he had been that day. Just as hurt... I had fucked up twice. And _both_ times there was something so very important at stake.

I needed to explain everything to him, he needed to know... I flipped open my phone and dialed his number before remembering that he had thrown it at the wall before he left.

He didn't have his phone, I couldn't contact him. And I had no idea where he would go or for how long. I would have to wait for him to come back, if anything he wouldn't let a case go unfinished.

The door stopped swinging and I looked up to see Miranda standing there with mascara running down her face.

"I'm sorry!" she whispered. "I didn't know he was here. I never should have said your name so carelessly..." her fingernails gripped the door so hard they were leaving marks.

"It's fine..." I said quietly. Her teary eyes bore into my own; they showed confusion.

"What's done is done. All I can do is wait for Mello to calm down..." she bit her lip and we continued on in silence for a long while before she moved from the door and sat beside me.

"I'm so sorry..." she mumbled again while leaning her head on my shoulder. I sighed.

"Stop crying, you're only going to irritate your eyes. Or at least take those ridiculous contact lenses out." that got her to laugh.

"Then you take yours out!" though there was no humor in her eyes her face held a smile.

I supposed there really was no point in hiding anymore. Mello had found me. And I no longer held any desire to stay away from him. No matter what he wanted I would fight to be kept by his side like I should have done all those years ago...

Carefully I slid the hazel contacts from my green eyes and flicked them across the room. I didn't really care where they landed; I wouldn't be using them again. Miranda followed suit and her deep blue eyes were revealed.

I had never understood why she had decided to change herself so much after she met me. She was my oldest friend besides Mello. I met her a few months after I left Wammys, when I was just starting to disguise myself. She had said that if I was going to change who I was then she would choose who I had left behind.

I hadn't understood what she had meant until she was sporting red hair and green eyes. She even sometimes wore stripes. She had never once left my side since then. She was a better friend then I had been to Mello.

A soft ringing broke the silence and we both glanced at the phone lying on the floor across from us.

"It's not broken? Where can I get one like that?" Miranda mumbled as I reached across and grabbed it. It read 'Jasper'. I wondered who it was and while I wouldn't normally do this, I decided to answer it and hope they knew where Mello might go. Flipping it open I didn't say anything hoping for them to start talking first, and I wasn't disappointed.

"Mello why the fuck didn't you tell me this wasn't the first time the killer left something for you?! Don't you know how much danger you're in-"

"Wait he was contacted by the killer?" I shouted into the phone. Miranda was wide eyed as she scooted closer to me.

"Who the fuck is this?" the man growled.

"I go by Emerson. I… work with J." the man paused.

"Where is Mello?" he sounded skeptical.

I hesitated. "He found out that I'm actually J and left a while ago. He wasn't too happy, he threw his phone at the wall.." I decided to answer truthfully; the man snorted.

"I'll bet. But that leaves us with a very large problem." I had to agree with the man. Jasper then quickly filled me in on the video, which I had a feeling was the thing he broke his promises to get, and the recent box of horrors that the killer had left him. I had a feeling Mello had been keeping things from me about the case, but I wish I had been wrong.

"Do you know where he would go in a fit of anger?" I asked.

"He can't go very far, I drove him there." I almost dropped the phone. "The killer has his eyes set on him and he's out there by himself?!"

I went silent as another phone rang. The slight vibrations were coming from my other hand which still clutched my phone. It was an unknown private call. My phone was protected against them unless they specifically knew the number.

"Hello?" I asked quietly. There was silence on the other end until I heard a slap. "God keep your fucking hands to yourself if you're just going to hit me!"

_Oh god. _

"Mello!" I shouted into the speaker.

"Fuck! I hadn't meant to say anything..." he sounded defeated, tired and...sad?

"Well then J, or should I call you Matt? I believe I have something you want?" there was a loud _thump_ and a muffled yelp came from Mello.

The man sighed. "I am on the phone right now, _behave_." Mello hissed painfully at whatever was being done to him and I grit my teeth in anger.

"What do you want?" I bit out.

"For you to go to 19 Yellow Bird road and follow the adjacent dirt road down to the abandoned warehouse. No cops and no other people. We will be waiting for you." he ended the call and I was left with the dial tone in one ear and Jasper shouting in the other.

"Hey! What's going on?" I tried to form words but my mind went blank on me. Miranda grabbed the phone from me.

"Mello has been taken captive by the killer and is requesting that J come alone to a warehouse to get him..." there was a string of curses sent from the phone and Miranda had to move her ear away.

"Where is this warehouse?" he finally asked. I looked at Miranda and shook my head grimly.

"I can't tell you that... too many people are already involved. I'm sorry." Miranda said into the phone before ending the call. She turned it on vibrate so we wouldn't have to hear it ring every five minutes.

"I need to leave now." Getting to my feet I managed to walk about four feet before she stopped me.

"You mean _we _have to go."

I shook my head.

"Matt, you can't do this alone. We both know that if you go alone that neither you nor Mello will leave there alive." I sucked in a breath before exhaling sharply. She was right, and the entire point was for Mello to get out alive.

I grabbed my keys off the coffee table and waited for Miranda to get her purse.

"Why do you need this exactly, Mello's life is on the line!" I snapped. Rolling her blue eyes she pulled out a gun.

"That's why. And my cinnamon body spray is in it." I refrained from commenting and hurried out of the apartment.

_**~Mello~**_

The man in front of me smirked but otherwise contained his glee. He was tall with dark hair; business-like, had glasses and very sharp calculating eyes. His name was Mikami Teru. It wasn't that I knew him in any way, he had _told_ me his name.

He was very confident in his abilities and seemed sure that he would succeed. He was a very dangerous man. If only because he had caught me.

I spat blood onto the floor, though I had been aiming at his shoes. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"You are the successor of the heathen who killed kami-sama, I was expecting more." his voice was quiet and his eyes blazed with hatred. Kami-sama? What the hell is he going on about?

"Kami-sama was making a new world and yet the world's _greatest_ detective sided with the criminals!" I suddenly understood everything now. He was talking about L's defeat of Kira, the Japanese student who had been killing criminals using a notebook of death. Of course the last bit of information wasn't released to the public but L's successors were permitted to know about it.

Although his plans seemed well thought out, I doubted he was acting alone; the manic look in his eyes attested to that. This was too big for him alone. Too big for simple revenge. He struck me as more of a follower rather than a leader.

He not only knew about L and his successors but that Matt was J. I had a gut feeling that this was only the tip of the ice berg.

"L will taste defeat when all of his successors are dead, and then I will kill him too." Mikami chuckled darkly with a red glint in his eyes. He was definitely mentally unstable, the kind of person who only needed a small push to go off the wrong side.

He walked over to his briefcase and without even looking pulled out a small silver object; I couldn't see what it was from my position in the chair. And I had no desire to attempt standing again anytime soon.

I was sure I had broken a finger when the chair landed on my hand in my poor attempt at escaping a few minutes ago. Mikami hadn't been all that thrilled with me interrupting his phone call…

He stared at the object for a while before turning to me with an oddly calm look in his eyes; it worried me. Taking sight of what was in his hand my body tensed. Standing next to my injured side he lifted his hand and the knife descended on me.

Clenching my teeth I didn't make a sound as the knife dug into my arm. He purposely pressed harder and deeper than necessary but before long the lone bullet was freed from my arm. He seemed pleased with the blood running down my arm and didn't bother to bandage it. I hadn't expected him to

He left the bloodied knife sitting on the counter and exited the room. I immediately began to struggle against my bindings. A pair of handcuffs and duck tape were all that kept me from getting out of the chair and stealing the knife. But the handcuffs were tight and I didn't see my hands getting free of them anytime soon.

And the only reason my legs were taped to the chair legs was my earlier escape attempt.

My only hope was breaking the chair which would free up the cuffs and at least allow me movement even if my hands were still bound. The chair was made of wood and wasn't bolted to the floor. Just as I was about to throw myself to the side a loud beeping echoed in the room and I stopped. Mikami quickly returned and shut off the alarm; it reminded me of a motion sensor. He turned to me with a smile.

"It seems that your friend has arrived." A second later another alarm went off making him sigh.

"But it appears that he has brought someone with him." Shaking his head he pulled out a roll of duck tape from his bag and walked back over to me. Tearing off a long strip he proceeded to cover my mouth despite my attempts to resist him.

"Now be a good hostage and stay put." He grabbed the knife off the counter and exited the room once more leaving me in silence. I could only hope that Matt would survive whatever this psycho had planned for him.

_**~Matt~ **_

We entered the warehouse as quietly as possible but I had a feeling we were being watched. We were at a disadvantage in numerous ways. Only one of them being that this was a multi roomed warehouse, and the fact that it wasn't abandoned. Meaning there were plenty of places to hide. And if this person was any bit as meticulous as I believed then he would have memorized them all.

"From the size of the building I'd say there are around seven rooms, and I would bet that Mello is somewhere in one of the outer ones." Miranda nodded.

"I want you to go look for him, keep to the shadows if possible. And if you get him then call my cell phone and get the hell out of here."

"Where are you going to be?" I smiled softly and she started shaking her head.

"You don't even have a weapon!" she hissed.

"It doesn't matter, all I need to do is keep him busy long enough for you to get Mello out of here." She pulled her gun free of her purse and held it out to me.

"I'm not going to look for Mello unless you take this." I hesitated; she would be left defenseless as would Mello, but in the end I took hold of it.

"See you on the other side." She whispered with a smile before heading off to my left.

Taking a deep breath I crouched low and went straight ahead. Everything was deathly silent, and most of the lights were off leaving many places in the dark. Carefully I made my way through the first room. I needed to be a good distraction, which meant not getting killed easily.

The next room was easily twice the size of the last one and piled high with crates and boxes. It had two levels. As I was creeping across an open area I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and took off running.

Shots rang out beside me and I jumped behind a crate narrowly avoiding death. Bullets pelted the crate and I prayed the wood was thick enough to hold out. Breathing harshly, I banged my head softly against the box. This distracting thing was working a little too well. I wouldn't be able to get out.

But then again, I had already known this.

With a deep breath I raised the gun and shot off two rounds around the crates edge. The other gunfire stopped and I took my chance to dart across a small gap and retreat behind a large crate.

All was silent but I knew the second I stepped away from my shelter a bullet would find its way into my head. That was when I heard a small gasp and the sound if something being dragged.

"Im sorry Matt!" Miranda's familiar voice rang out through the room. It felt like I had been punched in the stomach.

"If you value your friends life then I suggest you show yourself." closing my eyes I did as I was told. Opening them I could see Miranda being held tightly against our killer; knife held to her neck and gun no where in sight. Had the idiot had run out of bullets, or was this just another ploy?

Miranda was still struggling but stilled when the already bloody knife was pressed closer to her neck. Were we really going to lose this battle, let this man destroy Wammys? From the confident look in that monsters eyes, I would say that was a very good prediction.

I'm sorry Mello... I never got to tell you...

_**~Mello~ **_

I had stayed sitting in the chair as Miranda was taken out of the room; the moment I couldn't hear their footsteps I stood up. Miranda had already broken the duck tape that held my legs, but if one didn't look too closely it was impossible to tell.

Carefully standing I was able to lift my arms over the back of the chair and yank my legs the rest of the way free.

From the sound of it they had gone to the left, so I could only assume that was where Matt was as well. I held the element of surprise as Mikami thought I was still bound to the chair.

As quietly as I could I made it into the next room, I was on the ground floor while Mikami and Miranda were on the second. I watched as Matt walked out of his hiding spot and stood silently, watching.

I bit my lip but refused to say anything to draw attention to myself. Instead I crept along the crates and other junk that was piled high. The dim lights of the room gave me plenty of shadows to hide in and for that I was grateful.

"I want you to drop your gun or I slit her throat." my breath caught and I watched Matt slowly begin to put his gun down.

"Don't!" Miranda screamed. She jerked back and was able to hit Mikami in the face; his hand slipped and slid across her neck and a trail of blood followed in its wake. She dropped to the ground limply but lifted her head as Mikami ran down the ramp to the ground floor.

"I'm fine Matt!" she rasped.

I didn't care about stealth anymore now that there were so many other sounds to mask my own. Running was difficult with my arms bound behind my back making me sway much more than I'd have like to.

Stopping just behind a dirty yellow crate I was just in time to see Mikami duck behind a pile of fabric a few feet away and circle around behind Matt. He slowly began to aim his gun, a maniacal grin plastered across his face.

Matt had no sort of formal training in this area, his posture showed that. He would never notice Mikami in time! I stumbled foreword unsteadily but was able to use the momentum to propel myself into Matt; knocking him sideways into the pile.

_Bang_

Pain exploded in my chest and I fell to my knees. More shots rang out but I couldn't seem to focus on anything.

My vision was a wash of color; everything was blurred. I wobbled and without the use of my hands I ended up falling sideways. I expected to hit the dusty concrete floor only to be caught by a pair of warm arms.

"Mello!" I opened eyes that I didn't remember closing and tried to focus on Matt. His face faded in and out of focus. My fingers weakly clenched together but the cuffs kept my hands in place.

"Matt..." my voice was nothing more than a whisper and yet it had taken so much effort just to say that.

His hands were pressing on the gunshot wound and he was frantically shouting something that I couldn't make out. It was like a bubble had been placed around my head that was blocking out all sound. I opened my mouth but I couldn't seem to get the words out.

I _had_ to tell him.

It felt like all of the strength was leaving my body.

He had to _know_.

My eyelids fluttered and my head lolled to the side. Something like water dripped onto my face as my eyes closed and everything faded to black.

**-End **_**Selfless**_**-**

**AN: **Muwhahahah! I bet you all hate me right now, am I right? Heheheh. Well since the next chapter is the epilogue you are really going to hate me. Heheh. I'm so mean. I can't believe I let Mikami shoot Mello. Oh well, like I said my fics never seem to end happily with this pairing. Go figure since it's my favorite. But trust me I think you'll like the epilogue though. :)

OK my timeline was earlier for this to work out correctly; Mikami met Light long before he did in the anime/manga. So when Light was defeated and brought to justice by L, Mikami already knew him.

As for Mikami sounding so weird and making mistakes that shouldn't be made... Well you all know how he acts in the anime when Light basically discards him right? He goes all crazy-ish. Well imagine that times 2 when it comes to revenge for his 'god'. Yeah, he was a bit obsessed. Hope that helps. :)

And for those who didn't get it with my roundabout way of saying it, Matt shot Mikami. :) Isn't everyone happy?

And there is a special announcement at the end of the Epilogue that you WONT want to miss, as well as the poll results form my profile. I will be posting the prologue of the fic that won the same day as the epilogue. :)

**Special thanks to last chapter reviewers**: alienvampirefreak, TheMostPatheticNameEver,Living in a fantasy, Sightlines, Maykitty, incandescentglow, Lusty Cupcake, Kyler Conroy, Mia-Gabriella

Review plez!


	12. Epilogue: Sadness

**Disclaimer:** Still nothing...... damn.

**AN: **Yes, I know it's short, but read the bottom author note for the reason. You'll love me, really.

**Suggested Listening**: 9 Crimes **by** Damien Rice

**Epilogue:**___Sadness_

_~Matt~ _

It was a chilly day; the wind blew harshly making the bare trees creak and moan. The skies were dark and the forecast called for snow.

In all honesty I felt that this weather was perfect for standing in a graveyard. Because that was where I currently was; holding a single yellow rose in my hand. The tombstone was nothing special in my opinion, nothing to reflect the person who had once been so lively.

Tears stung at my eyes but I already knew that they wouldn't fall, they couldn't; I had cried all the tears I had days earlier over Mello.

Kneeling down I placed the rose on the grave with a sigh; the wind ripped through my fur vest like it wasn't even there. I thought I could smell cinnamon in the air for a moment.

I smiled slightly.

"I will miss you." I told the grave though I knew it wouldn't be heard.

"Matt." startled I turned my head.

"What are you doing out here?!" I paused for a second as my mind caught up with the sight before me.

"You got out of the car on your own?" I asked curiously as I stood.

"I'm not an invalid!" I laughed and approached my wheel chair bound friend. Leaning down I stole a quick kiss and watched as his cheeks tinged pink.

"Bastard... "

Stepping behind Mello I grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and wheeled him in the direction of the car.

"You done already?" he asked softly.

I took one last look at Miranda's grave and nodded to him; he gave me a calculating look before accepting my answer.

Things would forever be changed by that case. I had lost a good friend and eight others had died, that we knew of. Wammys had almost been exposed and two of L's successors almost extinguished.

But I supposed it didn't end up all bad. I had Mello back in my life and I knew he loved me despite the numerous issues we had going on; seven years was a long time to be apart. Bu we were working on it, and that was really all that mattered.

_Miranda Grove_

_? - 2013_

_Gentle spirit and valuable friend_

**AN 2010: **I actually didn't have to do too much to this when rewriting..... but I know for a fact that NAA needs lots of work.... urg.

**AN:** Hahaha, I wonder if any of you actually thought I killed off Mello? I had thought about it, but just couldn't do it after all the other shit I put this pairing through. And....... I am planning a sequel to this.

Yes, you heard it right, a sequel. Some loose ends will be tied up, as well as me making havoc with their lives again. :)

And guess what? The poll on my profile? Well.. the mystery fic that was on it, was the sequel. And guess what? It won. So…… here is the summary of it, and if you feel like it, you can go check out the prologue that I just put up. :)

"Not an Angel"

**Summary:** Little over a year after WSF, a new problem arises. Detectives all around the world, secret and well known alike, are being murdered. Matt is next on the list and Mello will do everything in his power to save him; even if that means loosing him the process. Rated for Sexual themes, possible torture, Language. MxM The usual…

-Forewarning though, you are going to be thrown into the plot, literally. Then as the chapters go along things will start falling into place. Enjoy. (The other fic will be released whenever I feel like it, lol)

Until then, review!

**Special thanks to last chapter reviewers**: Consciously Comatose, Mia-Gabriella, MayKitty, Sightlines, Kyler Conroy, Living in a fantasy


	13. Special: Recovery & Discovery

**Disclaimer: **I dont own Death Note.

**AN**: Yay something new! Ok, for most of you who've read this but haven't recently looked at the summary, I recently rewrote/edited small parts of this fic. Nothing too major, just fixed a few things, most of the work went to chapter 8.

Since I wanted everyone to know this fic was revamped, just little plot holes and extra content, without simply putting up an AN then deleting it, I wrote something new to put at the end of this. It fits in with WSF and comes before it's sequel NAA.

I will also be revamping NAA and JNRR. This is all happening before the release of the fourth (fifth if you count the threeshot prequel) and final fic in the series (The Silent Place)

Also please keep in mind my writing style is a bit different than when I started this, so it may flow differently than the rest of the fic has. (as well as me having just finished TSP so I may be influenced by that.....)

**Suggested Listening**: Strange Boy **by** Kerli

_**~Recovery & Discovery~**_

_~Matt~_

I watched as Mello shifted in his position on the couch. I kept watching and in the span of five minutes he had shifted sixty-seven times.

I sighed and stood from packing a box and went over to him. He was more than restless, which was understandable for someone who was always moving and always doing _something_. He was on bed rest and if he hadn't been such an unruly patient I suspect they probably would have kept him in the hospital longer than they had.

He had gotten shot in the chest, the bullet missing his heart by a half inch, but he was recovering nicely. Or at least I thought so.

I wasn't a doctor so what would I really know.

But the fact that he hadn't fallen over dead yet had to say something.

I leaned over the arm of the couch and stared down at him until he stopped moving about. He glanced up at me and he gave me a small smile. "Shouldn't you be packing? We are supposed to be moving in two days."

I rolled my eyes. "How am I supposed to get anything done with you moving around the couch every five seconds?" he gave me a look somewhere in-between a pout and a frown. I snorted in mirth.

Even if he didn't see it, he was still very much the boy he used to be. He was still led by his emotions, still just as fiery and volatile as ever. And still just as stunning.

"See something you like?" he muttered with a quirk of his eyebrow. I laughed.

"I suppose so." I leaned closer and stole a quick kiss and smirked at the light dusting of pink across his cheeks. Despite everything he was still my Mello. Just older. And more sarcastic.

Who wore leather....

One of Mello's hands lifted from its resting place on his stomach to play with a strand of my hair that dangled downwards.

Who painted his nails black...

"You need a haircut. And to get rid of that fucking hair dye." he told me. It wasn't so much of a request as an order. But I didn't mind too much.

"I'll add that to the list of things I have to get done." I moved away and his fingers slid from my hair. I was surprised he hadn't tugged on the ends to keep me there; he had done so before.

I knew he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, as he had constantly fidgeted before and even during his sleep. His eyes had slight shadows underneath. He would be fine once he was allowed to do more than simply rest.

Mello, even back at Wammys, had never liked to rest for longer than needed.

I moved around the side of the chair and gently tugged at the pillow under Mello's head, enough for him to realize he should sit up for me to remove it. I sat in the space left by the pillow and Mello let his head drop to my lap.

"Sure you have time to be wasting?" he muttered while closing his eyes. I smirked and trailed my fingers down the scarred side of his face enjoying the slight shiver I received.

"Yeah. Everything will be packed on time. It's not like I need all of it anyway. We're not taking the furniture." he cracked open an eye to look at me.

"I keep forgetting that you are a hacker so we can afford new stuff." I laughed softly at him and his nose scrunched up in annoyance. His eyes fell shut again and it didn't take long for his breathing to even out.

He would probably wake if I moved him, but I was comfortable and he needed the sleep. I hadn't' been lying when I told him I wouldn't need a lot of the stuff that was here. Most of it was for and from the people who frequented the place.

Or rather, who _had_ frequented the place.

I had made it abundantly clear that the apartment was no longer open to the public as it had been. There was no more annoying loud techno rock playing, or unidentifiable things lying around.

Everything had to be done for when we moved in two days.

It wasn't a good idea to stay in a place where too many people knew you lived. Especially after the last case. We were moving to a slightly better area, though neither of us truly wanted to live in the more posh neighborhoods despite me being able to get the money easily for that.

People were too nosy in those areas and you couldn't get away with as much.

Two days and there was still so much to pack.

I moved a stray piece of hair away from Mello's face. There was still time to wait a while longer before I had to go back to packing.

_~Mello~_

_(time skip: months later)_

I leaned back with a small sigh and glanced over to the computer, where Matt was. I was bored out of my mind and he was still there playing that game. I knew it was a game as he had said he didn't quite want to jump back into cases at the moment; and I completely understood his reluctance after the one we just barely survived, or rather I just barely survived.

But I didn't really want to be ignored either. My understanding could only go so far; though I didn't want to start a fight should bringing it up irritate him. Not that I thought it would... I sighed again.

I knew Matt could hear me, unless his headphones were on, which they weren't, so it meant he was ignoring me. I turned on the television with a sneer and hoped there was something that might catch my attention if only for a little while.

But as usual there was nothing on. I almost hit the power button when there was a sudden large scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen. It was probably about something stupid, but my eyes traveled to the words regardless.

I sucked in a breath and dropped the chocolate I had been holding in my other hand. It fell to the couch with a soft _thump_.

"Matt. Either get your ass over here and look at this or go to an internet news station." I told him in a tone I hoped he'd listen to. Fourteen detectives had just died. Today. All murdered.

"Fuck." I heard Matt mutter from his station at the computer and I knew he was watching something similar to me. I switched to a new channel and they were frantically reporting that there were actually fifteen dead.

Both of our cell phones began to ring and we looked at each other.

It had to be a problem if L was calling us, or rather L and Near. "I'll answer it..." he mumbled. I stood up and sat of his lap as he answered the call. Fifteen in one day.... what the hell was going on....?

**-End _Recovery and Discovery_-**

**AN: **So you get a few small snippets of life after the first case. As well as the knowledge that this fic was edited. Aren't I nice? NAA'S edit should be up today as well.

How do you like this? (no more updates, I promise!)

(thank you to everyone who reviewed the Epilogue, I'm just too lazy to type it out at the moment)


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